Background: Join Dementia Research (JDR) was launched in February 2015. It enables the public to express an interest in participating in dementia research studies and provides an easy-to-access mechanism for researchers recruiting to dementia studies, to find participants that match their study enrolment criteria. It has become the leading source of recruitment to dementia research studies across the UK, having delivered over 100,000 study enrolments into 891 studies, 334 research sites, and trained 3014 researchers to use the system.

Methods: JDR uses innovative matching technology and provides volunteers with an opt-in, secure way of registering interest in dementia studies and allows researchers to access matched volunteers. It matches members of the public to research studies using their demographic and health information, making it easier to participate in research, as well as streamlining the recruitment process for researchers. Anyone aged over 18 can volunteer, people with and without dementia and carers. Studies range from clinical trials of new treatments to surveys identifying improvements to the quality of life of people with dementia.

Results: As of June 2026, JDR had 100,000 registrants (20% with dementia), with 2024/25 being the most successful year for registrations (see figure 1). A key recruitment mechanism for volunteer signups has been our work with GP services. This has centered on working with GPs to deliver text messages to raise awareness of JDR and encourage registrations. This is our most popular route for new registrations and to date have accounted for over 22,000 registrations. A current example is an open study looking at hearing loss and dementia, where the study matched 37 volunteers and 34 people volunteers subsequently enrolled - over 90% enrollment rate.

Conclusion: Increasing the number of volunteers with a dementia diagnosis will be essential in ensuring that JDR continues to support study recruitment. Future plans also involve exploring linking with other data sets, such as electronic health records, to enable better study matching for volunteers. JDR will continue to improve research productivity, and public engagement with dementia research and will help attract commercial studies to the UK, enabling the public to have earlier access to disease modifying treatments.