R&I has joined the worldwide #whywedoresearch Twitter campaign – with a few twists of our own. This social media campaign aims to raise awareness of research and how it benefits patients through personalised messages from staff, patients and the wider community.

The hashtag links together all the different organisations taking part in the initiative, which was launched at Christmas by the James Paget University Hospitals in East Anglia.

We’re using wipe clean ‘speech bubble’ signs for the Tweets from @NCAresearchNHS and are asking people to add their own reasons to three key messages:

• We do research because… (particularly for staff)
• I take part in research because… (particularly for participants)
• I support research because… (for everyone)

We would love more people to support this campaign – please follow us on Twitter @NCAresearchNHS and contact Claire Mooney  if you want to get involved.