The Research Division is the methodological home of the institute. It supports study design, protocol development, statistical planning and the coordination of multidisciplinary programmes so that work across every division meets a shared standard of rigour.
Research design, methodology, multidisciplinary programs and research coordination.
Verified Sterling IMRES staff will be listed here. Until then, these are the people credited on this division’s library works (not institute staff).
RECOVERY is a large randomised, open-label platform trial led by the University of Oxford that has tested many treatments for patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, and has since added influenza and community-acquired pneumonia. Its pragmatic design, with minimal data collection and a shared control group, allowed rapid answers, including the finding that dexamethasone reduced deaths. It remains a reference model for efficient trial methodology.
WHEAT-Boost is a Study Within A Trial embedded in the WHEAT International Trial in Canadian neonatal units. Families approached about the host trial are randomised to receive a video-based explanation or the usual information. The main measure is the opt-in rate to the host trial.
STAMPEDE is a long-running UK-led platform trial in men with high-risk or metastatic hormone-naive prostate cancer. It has used a multi-arm, multi-stage design to test additions such as docetaxel, abiraterone, zoledronic acid and radiotherapy against standard care, with overall survival as its main outcome. It is widely cited as an example of efficient adaptive trial methodology.
The first technical build of the institutional website: a multi-page Next.js and TypeScript application with content hubs, dynamic detail routes and typed local content that can later move to a CMS or database.
Richer search, author dashboards, institutional reporting, APIs or member workflows — added only when there is a validated need.
Journal of Visual Communication in Medicine · DOI: 10.1080/17453054.2022.2056321
BMJ · DOI: 10.1136/bmj.n71
New England Journal of Medicine · DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2021436
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery · DOI: 10.1038/s41573-020-00114-z
BMJ · DOI: 10.1136/bmj.m441
Nature · DOI: 10.1038/d41586-019-03759-y
BMJ · DOI: 10.1136/bmj.l4898
F1000Research · DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.12037.3
Nature Human Behaviour · DOI: 10.1038/s41562-016-0021
BMJ · DOI: 10.1136/bmj.i4919
American Journal of Epidemiology · DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwv254
The American Statistician · DOI: 10.1080/00031305.2016.1154108
Scientific Data · DOI: 10.1038/sdata.2016.18
PLOS Biology · DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002128
PLoS Computational Biology · DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003833
Focus areas: Research methodology, Protocol writing, Statistics for clinicians.
From a clinical question to a registered protocol: study designs, bias, sample size, ethics and registration.
Structuring a manuscript, using reporting guidelines, authorship and the peer-review process.
A practical workshop that takes a review team from question to a PROSPERO-ready protocol and PRISMA-compliant plan.
The official guide to how Cochrane systematic reviews of interventions are planned, run and reported. The current edition is version 6.5 (2024), edited by Julian Higgins and James Thomas, and it can be read online at no cost.
A searchable catalogue of more than 700 reporting guidelines for health research. You can filter it by study type, clinical area and report section to find the right checklist for a manuscript.
A handbook by Schünemann, Brożek, Guyatt and Oxman on rating the certainty of evidence and the strength of recommendations with the GRADE approach. It was last updated in 2013 and, according to the page, is being replaced by the newer GRADE Book, but it remains available online.
The official home of the 2025 SPIRIT checklist for trial protocols and the 2025 CONSORT checklist for reporting randomised trial results. Checklists, explanation papers and free online writing aids can all be downloaded at no cost.
The main reporting guideline for systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The site provides the checklist, the flow-diagram template, the explanation papers, extensions for other review types and translations.
The widely adopted standards on authorship, conflicts of interest, peer review and publication ethics for medical journals. The latest version, updated January 2026, can be read online or downloaded as a PDF.
An eight-module e-learning course, taking about three hours, on the updated ICH E6(R3) Good Clinical Practice guideline across the life of a trial. It is offered in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese, and learners who score at least 80% on the final quiz receive a certificate.
WHO's open learning platform, with self-paced courses on outbreaks, emergency response, infection prevention and control, clinical management and other public health topics. The courses are multilingual, work on low bandwidth, and many offer a certificate.
NLM's official training for searching PubMed, including short video quick tours, longer tutorials, on-demand classes and handouts. It is regularly updated, and some classes ask for free registration.
FDI's 2015 atlas on the global burden of oral disease, covering caries, periodontal disease, oral cancer, risk factors, inequalities and prevention. It can be downloaded free in English, French and Spanish, and a free MOOC based on it is also available.
Opportunities: Co-design of multidisciplinary studies; Methodological and statistical review of protocols; Studies within a trial (SWATs) and trial-process research.
