Currently we are funding research to strengthen our evidence and insight into areas such as:

• Who lives with Crohn’s and Colitis in the UK - As you may already know, earlier this year we received the results from a study we commissioned that showed the number of people living with Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis in the UK has been vastly underestimated. Read more here. Next, we need to explore in more depth how Crohn’s and Colitis is shaped by factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, location and socioeconomic factors. This work will deepen our understanding of different lived experiences of Crohn’s and Colitis across the UK and lay the foundations for our future work.
• Earlier diagnosis – We’ve completed an evidence review to give us a better understanding of where and why diagnostic delays occur and what has worked to tackle this in other conditions. We’re also in the process of interviewing a wide range of people who have experienced delays in their diagnosis to delve in more depth into their experiences and identify where barriers have occurred and how these can be overcome.
• The cost of IBD – We want to know the true cost of IBD to individuals, the NHS and wider society. This project will examine if delays in diagnosis of IBD impacts the costs and the mechanisms behind this.
• The language of poo - People tend to get very embarrassed when speaking about their bowel movements. It is not something that is part of usual everyday conversation and something people still view as a taboo. We captured insights from a range of people to understand how they talk about poo, pee, and toilets. We were especially interested in understanding the type of language people from different cultures, genders and ages use when discussing bowel movements.
  You can read more about the findings here or view the executive summary of the report here.
• Improving diversity in research – We’ve recently partnered with ClearView Research to gather evidence that will help us better understand of the barriers members of the Black community face when  getting involved with research.  You can now read the findings of the report and how we're going to be using this to implement change.
• Which social and economic factors have the biggest impact? - We working on a co-creation project to understand what social and economic factors have the biggest impact on people living with Crohn's and Colitis in the UK, particularly engaging participants from under-reached groups. 

By actively expanding our evidence and insight base, we are leading what is known about Crohn’s and Colitis in the UK.