UK Kidney Research Consortium

What we do

UK Kidney Research Consortium (UKKRC)

The UKKRC is the UK Kidney Research Consortium. This was set up by the Renal Association and Kidney Research UK to support the develoment of clinical research in kidney diseases in the UK. Its Steering Committee also includes the British Transplantation Society, British Association of Paediatric Nephrology, British Renal Society, and representation from the Renal Registry and Renal Association Clinical Trials Sub-Committee. The UKKRC has representatives in all the 25 Comprehensive Local Research Network areas (CLRNs) in England, as well as the devolved nations.

The UKKRC has an important relationship with the UK Clinical Research Network (UKCRN) Renal Specialty Group, which is chaired by Caroline Savage. The UKCRN is a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) body which supports clinical research and helps to facilitate the conduct of trials and other well-designed studies within the NHS. It has established 26 Speciality Groups in all the major disciplines.

UKCRN asked the 25 CLRN areas in England (not including the devolved nations) to nominate the Speciality Groups that they wished to host and 17 areas have included renal medicine. Thus the make-up of the Renal Speciality Group is selective and not comprehensive. However, for those CLRNs that have declared a renal interest, we have tried to ensure that the renal lead matches the UKKRC lead – and this is now matched in 15/17 CLRN areas. A major remit of the CRN Renal Speciality Group is to review potential studies, particularly from Industry, for inclusion on the UKCRN portfolio. Portfolio studies are eligible for infrastructure and potentially other support from each local CLRN.

Remit

The UKKRC can advise on research needs and potentially can encourage development of new trials, as it has done for the REN-1 trial that is being championed by the Oxford Clinical Trials Group. While all research that is accepted onto the UKCRN portfolio needs to have undergone peer review, the UKKRC acting in collaboration with KRUK, one of its founding members, is well placed to advise on funding issues
The Chair of UKKRC rotates between the Renal Association and KRUK; presently it is Neil Turner for KRUK.

Clinical Study Groups (CSGs)

The UKKRC has established 10 CSGs each with the remit of generating the most exciting and feasible research proposals in their specific areas. These are small to medium sized idea-generating groups with some seedcorn funding from Kidney Research UK (KRUK).