Study Development Process

All studies in the Centre follow the study development process outlined below, incuding funded studies, pilot work, and student research and placement projects.

It is important to contact the Centre as early as possible with your study idea. This will enable us to assess feasibility, and identify any technical and training requirements during an initial SCOPING phase. If you are preparing a funding application, we can help you to cost your work, to collect pilot data to demonstrate feasibility, and to articulate the research environment for your reviewers. We can liaise with any external collaborators who may be advising you on technical or scientific aspects of the work and ensure your study can implement any existing methods protocols, or that it is technically aligned with multi-centre data collection.

When scoping is complete and the study team is in place, the study enters a DEVELOPMENT phase, when we help you develop the appropriate data acquisition protocol. During this time, any required training is completed, and approval by the University Research Ethics Committee should be received. This phase culminates in a protocol approval presentation in our weekly research meeting (neuromethods), where the study seeks the approval of the CINN Study Approval Committee. Once approval is granted the study will be added to the CINN website (including for recruitment purposes, if you wish), and can start collecting data.

Data collection is split into two phases: under PILOT status, a portion of the data is collected (typically 5 participant datasets) and the study team subject it to quality control analysis to identify any unforseen issues, such as signal artifacts. The study team communicates the QC results to the Study Approval Committee. If all is well, the study continues seamlessly through the final phase to completion (FULL status). If any issues are identified, the CINN team will help you iron these out so that data collection can resume as soon as possible.

The duration of each of these phases will vary depending on the modalities involved and the complexity of the protocol. Complex studies may spend many months in scoping and development but this is an important investment of time and effort to ensure the smooth running of data collection. Simpler protocols can be set-up by the admin team in collaboration with the relevant modality expert in a matter of days.

Please consult the Study Development Flowchart for an overview of the study development life-cycle.

UoR PhD Students

Publicly funded PhD students who have completed all relevant lab inductions and training (including MRI authorised personnel training if applicable) receive free access to the facilities to develop their study, under the study development procedures outlined above. They are granted access to collect data once their study has ethical approval by the University Research Ethics Committee, and their study protocol has been approved by the CINN Study Approval Committee at a neuromethods session. Please note that this represents a long period of preparation and training. In the case of MRI-based research in particular, it is unlikely to be appropriate for students who have not approached the Centre on arriving to Reading.

NB PhD students working on industry-funded projects do not received free access to the facilities but may seek access costs from their sponsor.

External Users

We can accommodate a wide range of experimental, interventional, and dagnostic applications across the modalities of the Centre, which can all be used in combination.

Organisations external to the University who wish to access the Centre facilities should contact cinn@reading.ac.uk in the first instance to discuss their requirements.