This page will be updated with opportunities for you to get involved in Parkinson’s research, including clinical trials and research events.
Parkinson’s Trial News
A PLACEBO-CONTROLLED CROSS-OVER TRIAL OF RHYTHMIC 10Hz MEDIAN NERVE STIMULATION FOR THE REDUCTION OF PARKINSON’S TREMOR’
Who is needed: 60 volunteers with a diagnosis of Parkinson’s and a resting tremor in one or both hands/arms.
Where: Department of Psychology, University of Nottingham
How: The trial involves 3-4 visits to determine how an active stimulation compares to a placebo stimulation. You will be randomly allocated into the active or placebo groups but volunteers in the placebo group will be able to try the active stimulation at the end of the trial.
During the first visit researchers will deliver questionnaires to assess your symptoms, tremor and wellbeing. To assess your tremor, a short video will be taken of you and researchers will also give you an accelerometer device to take home for the duration of the trial. This measures your tremor frequency. At the second visit, you will repeat the questionnaires from the first visit and then receive one session of active or placebo stimulation. On your third visit, you will repeat the questionnaires given at the first and second visits. If you are in the placebo group, you will have the opportunity to try the active stimulation during this third visit and be invited back for an additional session. You will also be asked to perform a simple movement task once during your first and last visit and twice during visits where you receive stimulation. The task involves tapping on circles on a screen as fast as you can.
We will offer an inconvenience allowance of £10 per hour, and we will contribute up to £45 per visit to help you with travel expenses for your visit to the University of Nottingham.
For further information about this work please contact: mairi.houlgreave1@nottingham.ac.uk or caitlin.smith1@nottingham.ac.uk.
There is no closing date for recruitment, but we will stop recruiting once we have 60 eligible participants.
TOP HAT – TRIAL OF A LICENSED DRUG AS A PARKINSON’S HALLUCINATION TREATMENT
Research teams across the UK are investigating if ondansetron has a meaningful treatment effect on Parkinson’s and Lewy Body Dementia hallucinations. As this is an already licensed low-cost drug, if the research shows significant outcomes, ondansetron could be available for people with Parkinson’s who experience hallucinations within the next few years.
Who is needed: 306 people diagnosed with Parkinson’s or Lewy Body Dementia (LBD) who:
- experience visual hallucinations, see things that aren’t there, at least once every week.
- are not taking apomorphine or any anti-psychotic medication.
- and have been taking a stable dose of Parkinson’s or LBD medication for 28 days before starting the research.
Where; At Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Kings Mill Hospital, Sutton In Ashfield, NG17 4JL, near Mansfield. (Plus a number of other sites around the UK)
What’s involved? If you are eligible to take part, you will either receive ondansetron or dummy medication tablets for 12 weeks, which will be shipped to you via a courier. The research team will maintain regular contact throughout to take assessments and let you know how much medication to take. This contact will be through telephone, video call, and face-to-face. 3 face-to-face visits are required and, for some research sites, home visits may be an option.
For more information: contact the TOP HAT team at o.zubko@ucl.ac.uk or call 02031089073 and leave a voicemail message. More information is also available on the Parkinson’s UK website: here.
Maria and Desmond’s experience of taking part in the TOP HAT trial
“I’d really encourage anyone thinking about it to take part. It was so easy, just one more pill. Read more about Maria and Desmond’s experience in the trial online here.
DOES HIGH INTENSITY FUNCTIONAL TRAINING WORK FOR PEOPLE WITH PARKINSON’S?
Dani Pendry-Brazier is a researcher at the University of Bristol. She is exploring whether a kind of exercise called High Intensity Functional Training is helpful and acceptable for people with Parkinson’s. Dani is expanding the advisory group which helps guide her research and make sure it works for future participants.
What is involved? Join an advisory group of up to 7 people to help shape the research. This includes sharing your thoughts on the study design and making sure that it works for people with Parkinson’s
When? 5 advisory group meetings of up to 1 hour between June 2026 and November 2027 with occasionally providing advice outside of meetings.
Where? Online, via video call and email There may also be the option to join an in person meeting. Please read the role description for more information. You will be offered payment for your time. You can read our guidance on payments attached to this email.
Who can be involved? People with Parkinson’s and other parkinsonisms and, People who support PwPs and other parkinsonisms.
How do I get involved? Please email the research team at liftpd-study@bristol.ac.uk copying in researchinvolvement@parkinsons.org.uk if you would be interested in joining the advisory group. Please include in your email: a couple of sentences about yourself, including your connection to Parkinson’s
● If there are any adjustments we can make to help you get involved.
Please express your interest by Monday 13 July. Please note that we may receive more interest than we have spaces. In this case we’ll use the information shared in the expression of interest to try to ensure as diverse a range of perspectives as possible.
PARKINSON’S TREATMENT PREFERENCE SURVEY
In this trial you are asked to explain how you feel about the more advanced
treatments for mobility issues like DBS. You have to fill in a questionnaire. Closing
date is August 15th, 2025 and the researchers hope to get responses from 600 people with Parkinson’s.
Access and join this trial via this link.
The deadline for taking part in this research is the 15th August 2025.
THE CAN-PDP TRIAL – IS CANABIDIOL AN EFFECTIVE TREATMENT FOR PARKINSON’S PYCHOSES?
About 60% of PwP experience hallucinations – seeing/hearing/feeling things that are not really there. Many also suffer delusions (ie. strange beliefs). Collectively these are known as Parkinson’s psychoses (PDP). The CANnabidiol for Parkinson’s Disease Psychosis trial is a clinical drug trial investigating whether cannabidiol (or CBD) is a safe and tolerable treatment for reducing these psychotic symptoms in PwP.
This trial is still open for recruitment in multiple sites across England.
This study is important because the current treatment strategies for PDP are either
not very effective, safe, or convenient for everyday use, so, we are looking at
cannabidiol (or CBD) as a safer, more tolerable alternative treatment.
More information can be obtained via this link.
STEPS 2 – CAN ELECTRICAL STIMULATION IMPROVE WALKING?
Researchers from the Salisbury District Hospital and the University of Plymouth want to understand if a small electrical stimulation device can improve walking for people with Parkinson’s.
Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) is a technique that applies small electrical impulses through self-adhesive pads. These pads are placed on the skin over nerves that supply muscles that cause the foot to lift. Early testing suggests this may help to retrain movement.
The researchers need to recruit 234 people with Parkinson’s who have difficulty walking due to Parkinson’s, can walk 50 metres with walking aids, and can stand from sitting without assistance from another person.
What is involved?
If you are eligible to take part, you will either receive the study treatment, FES, for 18 weeks or your usual care for 22 weeks. You will be asked to attend visits to your local research site which are at Salisbury, Leeds, Swansea, Birmingham, Bangor or Cumbria. Those receiving the study treatment, will attend 10 visits and those receiving usual care will attend 6 visits.
The length of these visits will vary between 1 and 2 hours during which you will take part in tests to measure your movement, Parkinson’s symptoms, and you will be asked to complete surveys. You will also be asked to complete a falls and exercise diary for the duration of the study. Travel expenses will be reimbursed.
Read the participant information sheet at this link for more information. Then contact the study team by email at steps2.penctu@plymouth.ac.uk.
The deadline for taking part is 31 August 2025. Unfortunately, those receiving Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) or using other active medical implanted devices, such as a pacemaker, are unable to take part.
UNDERSTANDING EMOTION MANAGEMENT AND WELLBEING.
Click here for more information.
INVESTIGATING THE EFFICIENCY OF DIFFERENT MNS PROTOCOLS IN REDUCING TREMORS
Researchers: Dr Kat Gialopsou, Dr Mairi Houlgreave
Supervisor: Professor Stephen Jackson
Contact Details: lpzkg@nottingham.ac.uk and lpzmsh@nottingham.ac.uk
‘It has been shown that stimulation of the wrist can be used to reduce tics in Tourette Syndrome. We now want to investigate whether stimulation of the wrist can be used to reduce symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and induce any cortical activity changes. To do this, we are using the wrist stimulation (aka median nerve stimulation) together with electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate the differences in tremor and in the cortical activity in response to a range of median nerve frequencies. Hence, we would be able to determine the optimum stimulation frequency to reduce the PD symptoms.
We are asking our participants to take part in a 3-session study at least 2 days apart between the sessions. In each session, different frequency will be tested’.
They offer a small travel allowance for those travelling from outside Nottinghamshire.
Click here to access the participant information sheet.
LEVODOPA STUDY
Consultant physician Dr Robert Skelly and Parkinson’s Nurse Lisa
Brown at Derby Royal Hospital seek information for their LEVODOPA STUDY on how you have coped if you have swallowing problems and have suddenly had to go into hospital. Dr Skelly explains:
‘Sometimes people with Parkinson’s develop difficulties swallowing their food and/or their medication. If they have to be admitted to hospital in an emergency the doctors in the hospital may need to change the usual Parkinson’s treatment to something else such as a patch or treatment through a tube in the nose. We want to investigate what we believe is a better way to help people with Parkinson’s who have swallowing problem when they are admitted to hospital unexpectedly. We will be applying to Parkinson’s UK for a grant to find a new solution to this swallowing problem. We will need your help in developing this project but first we have to collect background information to hear about your experiences. So, please contact us if:
1. You or a relative has been admitted to hospital and has not been able to take their usual Parkinson’s medications due to swallowing problems or being too unwell, and
2. Your Parkinson’s medication was changed to a rotigotine patch or given through a tube in your nose.
If both apply, please contact us by email at dhft.pd@nhs.net or by phone on this dedicated number 01332 783535. Please state you are contacting us about the “Levodopa Study”. Leave your name and phone number or email address. One of us will get back to you as soon as we can. Thank you!’
Dr Rob Skelly, Consultant Physician and Honorary Associate Professor / Lisa Brown, Parkinson’s Disease Nurse Specialist.
STEPS 2 – CAN ELECTRICAL SIMULATION IMPROVE WALKING?
Researchers from the Salisbury District Hospital and the University of Plymouth want to understand if a small electrical stimulation device can improve walking for people with Parkinson’s.
Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) is a technique that applies small electrical impulses through self-adhesive pads. These pads are placed on the skin over nerves that supply muscles that cause the foot to lift. Early testing suggests this may help to retrain movement.
The researchers need to recruit 234 people with Parkinson’s who have difficulty walking due to Parkinson’s, can walk 50 metres with walking aids, and can stand from sitting without assistance from another person.
What is involved?
If you are eligible to take part, you will either receive the study treatment, FES, for 18 weeks or your usual care for 22 weeks. You will be asked to attend visits to your local research site which are at Salisbury, Leeds, Swansea, Birmingham, Bangor or Cumbria. Those receiving the study treatment, will attend 10 visits and those receiving usual care will attend 6 visits. The length of these visits will vary between 1 and 2 hours during which you will take part in tests to measure your movement, Parkinson’s symptoms, and you will be asked to complete 6 surveys. You will also be asked to complete a falls and exercise diary for the duration of the study. Travel expenses will be reimbursed.
Read the participant information sheet for more information. Then click on the Take Part Hub button below to complete the expression of interest form or contact the study team by email at steps2.penctu@plymouth.ac.uk. Unfortunately, those receiving Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) or using other active medical implanted devices, such as a pacemaker, are unable to take part.
The deadline for taking part in this research is 31 August 2025.
SPEECH RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY
Could you help other people with Parkinson’s by recording your voice reading a few paragraphs and talking about your hobbies or interests?
Paul Gadd, Director of Protocol IT, is looking for volunteers with Parkinson’s to help record some speech to create an Artificial Intelligence network for converting speech to text for those living with PD. Recording can either take place on campus Loughborough University, or he can visit your home to record your speech for about 30-45 minutes, then return every 3-4 months to record changes to your speech. He can now do recordings by zoom if that is easier for you. If interested, please email info@protocolit.co.uk or call 01509 278645. More details are available at: http://www.protocolit.co.uk/parkinsons-speech-research/
Dr Skelly’s trials – Click on the link to register your interest and/or for more information:
i, COBALT – a randomised controlled trial comparing memantine with placebo in the treatment of PD dementia (or dementia with Lewy Bodies) in those already treated with a cholinesterase inhibitor such as rivastigmine or donepezil. To be eligible you need to have PD dementia or Dementia with Lewy Bodies and you need to be on rivastigmine or donepezil and you need a carer. The contact for this study is Rosemary Brodie at email: rosemary.brodie@nhs.net
ii. STROLLL – a trial of physiotherapy with virtual reality goggles compared to usual physiotherapy for motor symptoms. Contact for this study is olivia.strachan@nhs.net
iii. INSIGHT-PD – a trial looking at doing serial MR brain scans in people whose diagnosis was (at least initially) uncertain. To be eligible you have to have had a DaT-scan in the last year and be prepared to travel to QMC in Nottingham for scans. Contact email: dhft.dme@nhs.net
iv. PD FRONTLINE PD Frontline – Home This is a PD registry which offers genetic testing to people with Parkinson’s. If genetic abnormalities are found, participants may be eligible in the future to join clinic trials targeting those particular genetic abnormalities. People can access the trial via the trial website.
v. EJS-ACT-PD – we are not quite set up to recruit for this trial but hope to start recruiting in June/July. This trial is a randomised controlled trial of potentially neuroprotective agents in PD. The first agents to be tested will be telmisartan and terazosin. You cannot be in this trial if you have significant postural hypotension (big drops in blood pressure when you stand up) or if you are already on either of these medications. Contact email: dhft.dme@nhs.net
vi. Research+me. This is a register of people interested in taking part in research. It helps put researchers and potential participants in touch. Website: http://www.researchplusme.co.uk/.
RESEARCH HOT NEWS
Hot topics from the World Parkinson’s Conference: July 4th – 7th 2023 in Barcelona
Every three years the whole Parkinson’s community gets together for the World Parkinson’s Congress. This year the congress was held in Barcelona between 4–7 July.
Parkinson’s UK have put together a blog which brings you some of the research highlights. Read the blog at https://medium.com/parkinsons-uk/highlights-from-the-world-parkinson-congress-hot-topics-710accb60476.
PEMRIG 