Definitions

Recruited via clinical services or on diagnosis

Volunteers with a condition (registry or sign-up criteria)

No health-based entry criteria

Sampling frame is an occupation, not health status

EHR, administrative, or SDE asset — not a recruited cohort

Recruitment network or umbrella programme

The cohort has supplied participants, samples, or data to at least one commercial trial or industry study.

A documented application and governance route exists that industry can use (e.g. the NIHR BioResource access process, UK Biobank AMS).

The custodian has expressed willingness to consider industry access but no formal process exists yet.

The study team has not previously considered clinical trials or industry access — recorded directly from owner meetings, not inferred.

The custodian has decided against industry access.

Not yet established with the custodian. This is the default until an owner meeting settles it.

A site designated by NIHR as a Biomedical Research Centre with a mental health or neuroscience theme. BRC status takes precedence over other classifications.

Examples: Maudsley BRC, Oxford BRC, Cambridge BRC

An NHS Trust or Foundation Trust whose primary function is providing mental health services, with research delivery capability.

Examples: Pennine Care NHS FT, Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS FT

A university department (typically psychiatry, psychology, or neuroscience) with trial delivery capability that is not an NIHR BRC.

Examples: University of Edinburgh (Psychiatry), University of Bristol

A UKCRC-registered Clinical Trials Unit that designs, manages, and analyses clinical trials. Provides trial methodology, statistics, and regulatory support.

Examples: King's CTU, Priment CTU (UCL), Edinburgh Clinical Trials Unit

An NIHR Clinical Research Facility — a dedicated, staffed facility for conducting clinical research visits, with beds, nursing, and pharmacy.

Examples: NIHR Wellcome King's CRF, Manchester CRF

An NIHR Applied Research Collaboration conducting applied health research in partnership with NHS organisations, focusing on implementation science.

Examples: ARC South London, ARC North Thames

A Scottish NHS Health Board or Welsh Health Board providing integrated health services with research delivery capability. The devolved equivalent of an NHS Trust.

Examples: NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Lothian, Betsi Cadwaladr UHB

A Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Trust — the integrated health and social care provider. The NI equivalent of an NHS Trust.

Examples: Belfast HSCT, Southern HSCT

An NIHR Clinical Research Network partner site that recruits patients into trials but is not otherwise classified as a BRC, Trust, or CRF.

Examples: (Most CRN partners are better classified as another type)

Any site that does not fit the above categories, such as charities with research arms or independent research institutes.

Examples: Research charities, independent institutes

Equipment and expertise for acquiring brain or body images in a research context.

Examples: MRI (structural, functional, diffusion), PET, SPECT, EEG, MEG, retinal imaging

Laboratory facilities and expertise for measuring biological markers from participant samples.

Examples: Blood biomarker assays, CSF analysis, genotyping services, proteomics/metabolomics platforms

Equipment, software, and trained staff for administering standardised cognitive assessments.

Examples: CANTAB, CogState, NIH Toolbox, paper-and-pencil neuropsychological testing (WAIS, TMT, Stroop)

Digital health technology infrastructure for research data collection.

Examples: Smartphone apps for EMA, wearable device platforms, digital phenotyping systems, remote monitoring

Physical spaces or equipment purpose-built for research that do not fit other categories.

Examples: Sleep labs, exercise physiology labs, sensory testing rooms, mother-baby units, secure/forensic research facilities

Infrastructure for collecting, processing, storing, and distributing biological samples for research.

Examples: -80°C freezers, liquid nitrogen storage, sample processing facilities, LIMS, consent management

Equipment for non-invasive or invasive brain stimulation used in research or as an intervention.

Examples: TMS (repetitive, single-pulse, theta burst), tDCS, tACS, deep brain stimulation (DBS), ECT (research protocols)

Expertise and infrastructure for advanced clinical trial designs relevant to mental health.

Examples: Adaptive trial design, basket/umbrella trials, TWiCs infrastructure, decentralised trials, N-of-1 methodology

Conditions characterised by delusions, hallucinations, disorganised thinking, or grossly disorganised behaviour.

Includes: Schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, first-episode psychosis, treatment-resistant schizophrenia

Conditions characterised by persistent disturbance in mood (depression or mania/hypomania).

Includes: Major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, treatment-resistant depression, dysthymia

Conditions characterised by excessive fear, anxiety, or avoidance behaviour.

Includes: Generalised anxiety disorder, social anxiety, panic disorder, specific phobias, agoraphobia

Conditions characterised by obsessions (intrusive thoughts) and/or compulsions (repetitive behaviours).

Includes: OCD, body dysmorphic disorder, hoarding disorder, trichotillomania

Conditions arising from exposure to traumatic or stressful events.

Includes: PTSD, complex PTSD, acute stress disorder, adjustment disorders

Conditions characterised by persistent disturbance in eating behaviour.

Includes: Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, ARFID

Conditions with onset in the developmental period, manifesting as developmental deficits affecting functioning.

Includes: ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, Tourette syndrome, intellectual disability with co-occurring MH conditions

Conditions arising from the use of psychoactive substances, including behavioural addictions.

Includes: Alcohol use disorder, opioid use disorder, stimulant use disorder, gambling disorder

Enduring patterns of inner experience and behaviour that deviate from cultural expectations and cause distress or impairment.

Includes: Borderline personality disorder (BPD/EUPD), antisocial personality disorder

Progressive loss of neuronal structure or function, often with psychiatric manifestations.

Includes: Dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease-related MH, frontotemporal dementia, Lewy body dementia

Conditions characterised by abnormal sleep patterns causing distress or functional impairment.

Includes: Insomnia, hypersomnia, circadian rhythm disorders, sleep apnoea (in MH context)

Mental health conditions occurring during pregnancy or in the first year postpartum.

Includes: Perinatal depression, perinatal anxiety, postpartum psychosis, tokophobia

Intentional self-injury with or without suicidal intent. A critical clinical and research domain that cross-cuts diagnostic categories.

Includes: Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), suicidal ideation, suicide attempts

Approaches that span traditional diagnostic boundaries, studying shared mechanisms or comorbidity patterns.

Includes: Anxiety-depression comorbidity, emotional dysregulation, dimensional approaches (p-factor), common mental disorders

Conditions or research areas that do not fit the above categories.

Includes: Long COVID neuropsychiatric symptoms, chronic fatigue / ME, medically unexplained symptoms