Equality and Diversity in Octopus

The OCTOPUS trial team are running a programme of work to consider ways to increase diversity in clinical trials. We know that people recruited into clinical research often do not represent the wider group living with disease. The OCTOPUS trial team and MS Society have partnered to try to better understand reasons why people taking part in research may be less diverse than populations typically seen in practice.

Dr Emma Tallantyre (Neurologist and Cardiff PI for OCTOPUS) ran a workshop in 2023 where public contributors, the OCTOPUS trial team and MS Society worked together to consider how OCTOPUS and other trials could be more inclusive. The team used the NIHR Include Toolkit and other resources to look at all aspects of trial activities and communications. They developed an action plan that is now being rolled out across the trial.

In parallel, Dr Tallantyre and the OCTOPUS team are currently working on ways to measure and report on how representative OCTOPUS trial participants are of the wider community living with Progressive MS in the UK.