Imperial Health Knowledge Bank (IHKB)

Why join

We are inviting you to help us improve our knowledge and understanding about health, and improve care for everyone, by contributing to a collection of health information, blood samples and joining our list of people who are happy to be contacted about future health research studies.

Researchers may use your samples and information to learn more about health conditions. It will also help them find diseases earlier, and develop new tests and treatments.

Each of us can make a unique and valuable contribution to health research.

How to join

Read our Participant Information Sheet for detailed information about joining the Imperial Health Knowledge Bank.

If you have received a text message from us inviting you to join the Imperial Health Knowledge Bank, you can join via the link provided on the text message.

For further questions or to join, please contact the team directly at imperial.healthknowledgebank@nhs.net or 07795334835.

Will I benefit?

You may not benefit personally from any research carried out using your samples and data. However, the use of your samples and data may lead to the development of new drugs, treatments or tests and the results of the research may benefit patients in the future. You will not receive a financial reward now or in the future for providing samples. The clinical team involved in your treatment and care will receive no payment because of your involvement in IHKB.

How to withdraw

If you would like to leave or withdraw your application from IHKB,  please email us for advice at imperial.healthknowledgebank@nhs.net.

FAQ

Will my details be kept confidential?

Yes. Best ethical and legal practices will be followed to ensure that all information collected about you will be handled safely and securely. Your personal details will never be released to researchers without your consent.

Before you apply

For support before submitting an application, please contact us to discuss your study. We will be able to review the feasibility of your requirements and advise on any likely ethical amendments needed in order to use IHKB.

Please contact us by email at imperial.healthknowledgebank@nhs.net.

Application process

When you submit an application, it will be considered by either or both the NIHR Imperial BRC Data Access and Prioritisation Committee or Imperial College Healthcare Tissue Bank Access Committee, depending on the type of research.  They must give their approval before the study can commence.

Each NIHR Imperial BRC Data Access and Prioritisation Committee and/or Imperial College Healthcare Tissue Bank Access Committee meeting will consider a maximum of five new applications monthly. If the upcoming meeting is full, or if we receive your application after the deadline, we will consider it at the next available meeting.

All applications will undergo feasibility checks by the IHKB and PPIE teams before being passed to the Access Committees for review. You will receive feedback within one month from the application deadline above.

Please apply using our application form.

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Completed forms should be emailed to imperial.healthknowledgebank@nhs.net.

Application deadlines and process timing

Applications must be received for review by TBD

Presenting your project

You will be asked to send a representative to the Imperial Data Access and Prioritisation Committee to present your proposal and take questions from the panel, consisting of representatives of the ICHT information governance team, clinicians, academics, lay partners and ICT staff.

Once your study is approved

Once your project has been approved you will be contacted by the IHKB team. For consent to contact and data studies, you will first be given training to use the iCARE secure data environment before access is granted and for sample studies, a material transfer agreement (MTA) must be completed.

Access committee process map – TBC

Interested in Data Only

Data-only requests are processed by the NIHR Imperial BRC Data Access and Prioritisation Committee.

Samples available

• Plasma
• Serum

Imperial Clinical Analytics, Research and Evaluation (iCARE) is a team which is based across Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College London, which supports digital health projects in Imperial, across the Northwest London population and the wider national healthcare system.

The Imperial College Healthcare Tissue Bank (ICHTB) infrastructure enables researchers from Imperial to collect, store and use human tissue samples under a single Human Tissue Authority (HTA) licence and Ethics approval. Tissue samples, such as blood and tumour samples, are collected from patients and used to answer research questions, approved by the Tissue Banks’ Application Review Panel.