The Scottish Health Research Register and Biobank (SHARE)

SHARE currently has over 300,000 volunteers and we need both healthy people and those with medical conditions to join. Health research can be anything from completing an online survey to testing new medical devices or medications for a condition you may have. We also ask your permission to keep any leftover blood (anonymised) following routine clinical tests for genetic research.

SHARE has a structure of Committees of appropriately qualified individuals in relevant roles to oversee its governance.

How SHARE can help researchers

SHARE can assist research studies by providing willing participants, anonymised blood samples, DNA, genomic information and health data.

We can aid study recruitment by contacting participants by telephone, email or post; the approach used will depend on the study and help identify volunteers for questionnaires, focus groups, drug trials and a range of other research projects. We can also help advertise your studies involving SHARE on our website and social media.

SHARE offers a free feasibility service where we check to see if we can provide estimated numbers of volunteers, samples, or data.

Professor Brian McKinstry, SHARE Director and Professor of Primary Care e-Health, University of Edinburgh, and NHS Lothian, explains how the SHARE Register and Biobank can help you.

Selected publications

• DexFEM study article
• COVID life survey report
• GoDARTS study article
• View more SHARE publications

Testimonials from researchers who have used SHARE

"SHARE helped us enormously to recruit participants. Without SHARE our sample size would have been considerably smaller"

Researcher, University of Edinburgh, CovidLife survey (2020) 

"We identified highly suitable control participants, who were well briefed before being contacted by me, and I found the electronic interface easy to use."

Researcher, University of Edinburgh (2016)

"This is an incredible service. Very proactive and efficient. The communication from the whole team was frequent and again very efficient. The application process was straightforward and the response very quick. We particularly appreciated/admired the web-based service for participant information sharing. We are now going to ensure we incorporate SHARE into any future bids."

Researcher, Napier University, Atrial Fibrillation Study (2022)