Preventing Behaviour Change Trials from Doing Harm

In this episode of the Communicable Research podcast, host Andy Tattersall is joined by Diana Papaioannou who is a Senior Research Fellow within the Clinical Trials Research Unit here at Sheffield.

Diana’s areas of research are focused on clinical trial design, systematic reviews and adverse event recording in behavioural trials. It is the latter topic which we are going to explore as Diana has recently led a paper in The BMJ Research Methods and reporting titled ‘Recommendations on recording harms in randomised controlled trials of behaviour change interventions’.

Diana Papaioannou is an Assistant Director of the Clinical Trials Research Unit (CTRU) and a Senior Research Fellow with expertise in trial conduct and methodology and CTIMP trials (Clinical Trials of Investigational Medicinal Products).

Diana has extensive experience in designing and implementing large multi-centre trials, particularly CTIMP trials. Since 2014, she has been co-applicant on 8 NIHR funded trials. Diana also held a Clinical Trials Unit (CTU) Efficient Trials award to develop recommendations for recording harms in behaviour change interventions. Diana was the Quality Assurance Lead for Sheffield CTRU between 2014 to 2024.
Diana is CTRU lead, providing senior CTRU oversight, for the following studies: EXPERTS-ALS, MISSION-EB, PRAISE and MAP.

Diana previously provided CTRU senior oversight and a co-applicant on the MAGIC trial and STAR-MS trials. I provided CTIMP expertise to the ASTIClite trial.

In 2019, Diana became Assistant Director at CTRU, responsible for the CTRU management with the CTRU Director and the CTRU management group and coordinating the CTRU.

Diana joined the CTRU in May 2011 as the Trial Co-ordinator for a multi-centre randomised controlled trial, REPOSE (The Relative Effectiveness of Pumps over MDI and Structured Education for Type-1 diabetes).

Prior to joining CTRU, she worked with the ScHARR Technology Assessment Group from July 2006, as an Information Specialist and Systematic Reviewer undertaking health technology assessments for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre (NETSCC).