Last updated Feb 11, 2019
Find out how UK Biobank is being used to improve health
We will be holding a series of events across the UK to thank you for participating, and to tell you more about how the resource is being used. At these events, you will hear from scientists undertaking research using UK Biobank data, and you will find out how the resource is being strengthened. There will be opportunities to ask questions and to speak directly with scientists undertaking research.
Here are some of the most common questions:
- Is UK Biobank representative? It is not possible (and was never intended) to make UK Biobank representative of the country as a whole. UK Biobank’s 500,000 participants are generally healthier, leaner, and smoke less than their fellow countrymen and women, suffering less heart and kidney disease and cancer. However, this well-established ‘healthy volunteer’ effect does not reduce the value of the resource – its large size and diversity of measures means that results will be relevant to most people (in the way that the definitive study to link smoking with lung cancer was undertaken on 50,000 UK, predominantly male, GPs in the 1950s).
- Am I still in UK Biobank now I have reached 70? Yes, most certainly. We are still very interested in you! Though we asked people aged 40-69 to join UK Biobank, our intention is to follow your health for as long as we possibly can. This will tell us why some people stay healthy into ripe old age, and why others get ill.
- Can the pharmaceutical industry use UK Biobank? Yes. We all want to see the resource used as widely as possible to bring advances in health more quickly, and there are many excellent researchers asking important questions within industry. Very often industry has funds available to undertake the most expensive analyses, the results of which will be put back into UK Biobank for all other researchers to use (such as the data from the UK Biobank exome sequencing initiative).
- Do you work with other studies? Yes, if you have seen the value in joining UK Biobank, it’s quite possible you have participated in other major health studies as well. For this reason, UK Biobank works with big initiatives like the Million Women Study and the Bristol-based Children of the 90s (ALSPAC) to assess the scientific benefit of combining (or excluding) data on participants in more than one study. We are learning how to link and make best use of this extra data while ensuring participants’ privacy is retained.
In each location we visit, invitations will be sent out by email to a random selection of participants in the area. Unfortunately we cannot invite everyone along each time we hold an event, due to venue sizes and in order to allow people to ask questions with ease. But don’t worry if you do not receive an invite when we visit your area, we will be visiting locations more than once. We will also make the presentations available on this page.
We have held a number of these events already over the last year and videos, audio files and presentations are available below for you to view.
Videos
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Dr Tim Wilkinson - Dementia and health record linkage in UK Biobank
Filmed at the UK Biobank participant meeting in Newcastle. Hear how health record linkage in UK Biobank is helping researchers investigate diseases like Dementia. -
Rebecca Simmons - what to expect at the UK Biobank imaging visit
Filmed at the UK Biobank participant event in Newcastle -
Thomas Littlejohns - The UK Biobank imaging project
Filmed at the UK Biobank participant event in Newcastle -
Thomas Littlejohns - the UK Biobank resource
Filmed at the UK Biobank participant event in Newcastle -
UK Biobank participant event Newcastle
Hear from Michaela Smith, of York University, presenting her research through use of UK Biobank data on healthy, low carbon lifestyles. -
Dr Ian Sayers
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Professor Ian Hall
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Professor Bill Deakin, Manchester University
Professor Bill Deakin, presenting at the UK Biobank participant event in Manchester on his work on depression, using the UK Biobank resource. -
UK Biobank participant event -Newcastle
Hear from Professor Mike Trenell of Newcastle University and his research using the UK Biobank resource. -
Visual impairment in the UK Biobank study
Martin McKibbin, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust -
Dr Tim Peakman, UK Biobank
Dr Tim Peakman presenting at the UK Biobank participant meeting in Manchester on enhancements to our national health resource. -
Dr Suzanne Verstappen
Dr Suzanne Verstappen, from the University of Manchester, presenting her research plans to investigate arthritis risk factors, outcomes and treatments through the use of UK Biobank data. -
UK Biobank Manchester Participant Event 22 September 2015
Professor Ken Muir, University of Manchester, presenting on his research into Prostate Cancer using the UK Biobank resource. -
Dr Piers Dawes
Drink, drugs and rock n' roll (and hearing) -
Andrew Trehearne UK Biobank
A presentation on the background of UK Biobank at a participant meeting in Leeds.
Audio
Professor Rory Collins, UK Biobank, Oxford University
Dr Aiden Doherty, Oxford University, Physical activity and its health consequences
Susan Wallace – UK Biobank Ethics and Governance Council
Mr Andrew Russell, UK Biobank Ethics and Governance Council (EGC)
Professor Søren Holm, UK Biobank Ethics and Governance Council (EGC) – The role of the EGC
Rob Gillions, UK Biobank – Activity monitor project
Steve Garratt, UK Biobank – Imaging project
Slides
Dr Thomas Littlejohns, UK Biobank:
The UK Biobank Imaging project
Dr Tim Wilkinson, University of Edinburgh:
Using UK Biobank to study Dementia
Rebecca Simmons:
The Newcastle Imaging Centre, what to expect
Professor Naomi Allen, Senior Epidemiologist, UK Biobank
The UK Biobank imaging study May 2018
Dr Aiden Doherty, Oxford University, Physical activity and its health consequences
Professor Naveed Sattar, Glasgow University: Diet, Diabetes and Brain Function
Dr Carlos Celis, Glasgow University: Can walking or cycling to work reduce our risk of dying early?
Visual impairment in the UK Biobank study – Martin McKibbin, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Professor Daniel Smith, Glasgow University: How UK Biobank is helping us to understand mental health better
Mr Andrew Trehearne – background to the UK Biobank project
Professor Søren Holm, UK Biobank Ethics and Governance Council (EGC) – The role of the EGC
Rob Gillions, UK Biobank – Activity monitor project
Steve Garratt, UK Biobank – Imaging project
Dr Tim Peakman, UK Biobank – future enhancements to the resource
Slides
Professor Cathie Sudlow, UK Biobank – Past and future work of the resource
Video and audio transcripts
Professor Daniel Smith, Glasgow University: How UK Biobank is helping us to understand mental health better
Visual impairment in the UK Biobank study – Martin McKibbin, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Mr Andrew Trehearne – background to the UK Biobank project
Mr Andrew Russell, UK Biobank Ethics and Governance Council (EGC)
Professor Ian Hall, Nottingham University – COPD
Dr Ian Sayers, Nottingham University – Asthma
Professor Kenneth Muir, Manchester University – Prostate Cancer
Professor Søren Holm, UK Biobank Ethics and Governance Council (EGC) – The role of the EG
Rob Gillions, UK Biobank – Activity monitor project
Steve Garratt, UK Biobank – Imaging project
Professor Bill Deakin, Manchester University – Depression
Dr Tim Peakman, UK Biobank – future enhancements to the resource
Video Transcript
Dr Piers Dawes, Manchester University – Hearing
Video Transcript
Dr Suzzanne Verstappen, Manchester University – Arthritis
Video Transcript
