Getting the right people involved in research is one of our strengths. We go to where the people are and do what it takes to reach groups at risk of not being heard. This reduces the risk of missing opportunities and leaving people behind.

We typically recruit research participants across a diverse range socio-economic backgrounds, ethnicities, seldom-heard, under-represented and vulnerable groups.

Including people with low digital skills is always important when we’re thinking about ways digital can improve experiences.

We make it easy for people to participate in research, adapting our approach to their specific needs. For example, to reach young people with anxiety to discuss mental health support, we gave them the option of participating via text. Without this option, some of the people most in need of support wouldn’t have been able to contribute to the research and we would have missed valuable insight.

Groups we’ve recently recruited for research include:

• Homeless adults with low digital skills
• Parents of autistic children and autistic adults
• Children and young people seeking mental health support
• People with English as an additional language
• Disabled job seekers living on benefits with specific access needs
• People not in education, employment or training (NEET)

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