Online eczema trials – reducing the carbon footprint of research

By Vaibhav Chaganti and Emma Campbell Climate change is happening right now, all around us. Across the globe we’re seeing more intense heatwaves, stronger storms, record-breaking floods, prolonged droughts, and more frequent and severe wildfires. These changes are largely driven by human activities that release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Within Rapid Eczema Trials, we …

Prize-winning eczema research

By Kim Thomas and Laura Howells Over the last few months, we have spent a lot of time sharing the results of our Eczema Bathing Study. It has been great to hear what the findings mean to people with eczema. Our study found that how often you have a bath or shower makes no different …

Reflections on the Rapid Eczema Trials community – your voice

The Rapid Eczema Trials research project is spear-heading a new approach to running clinical trials in partnership with people with eczema. As part of our eczema community, you have helped us choose research questions that matter to you. Some of you have also then helped design and refine the clinical trials, both through surveys and …

My journey into research as a person with eczema

I’d had enough of being stuck in limbo with my eczema. I felt like there was not enough educational material out there for people with eczema, and a lot of the questions I had about my condition remained unanswered by healthcare professionals. So, I googled ‘eczema trials’ to see what research was taking place in …

When the answers from health research are not what you want to hear

When the answers from health research are not what you want to hear, how do you make sense of them? Negative reactions, disagreement with the findings or disengaging with the research team will not make the results of a clinical trial change or disappear. But I have experienced all those responses when sharing results, which …

Addressing the Eczema PSP priorities with citizen science

In 2011, the Centre of Evidence Based Dermatology (CEBD) at the University of Nottingham worked with the James Lind Alliance to run an Eczema Priority Setting Partnership (PSP) exercise. The aim was to identify and prioritise uncertainties around how best to treat and manage eczema. Over 500 individuals took part. The exercise identified 14 priority …

Boosting study recruitment by engaging with Be Part of Research

We were all so excited when the Eczema Bathing Study opened to recruitment on 29 January. It’s the first study to come out of the Rapid Eczema Trials research programme and is trying to find out whether it’s better to have a shower (or bath) daily or just once or twice a week when you have …

Eczema Care Online – one year on…

It’s now been over a year since we first launched the Eczema Care Online website. We thought it was time we gave you an update on how things are going. The Eczema Care Online website has been accessed by over 20,000 people from 157 countries around the world. This is an amazing achievement, but with …

Rapid Eczema Trials: Life of an intern

The Rapid Eczema Trials project involves researchers, healthcare professionals and citizen scientists (people with eczema and parents of children with eczema) working together to answer important questions about eczema by designing and running clinical trials together.  Being an intern at the Centre of Evidence Based Dermatology (CEBD) is an opportunity that has changed the trajectory …

A new adventure: designing eczema research as a citizen scientist.

The RAPID Eczema Trials team involves researchers, healthcare professionals and citizen scientists (people with eczema and parents of children with eczema) working together to answer important questions about eczema by designing and running clinical trials together. Our citizen scientist Kelly Zhang has shared her experience of being involved… Months ago, I was kindly invited to …