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The Great Minds is a group for volunteers from other health studies, interested in research and being matched with clinical trials to fast-track early diagnosis and treatments for dementia.

The aim of the Great Minds is to speed the discovery of a cure for dementia by precision-matching volunteers with innovative clinical trials and medical research.

We believe we can take years off trials and develop early therapies for dementia by matching pre-screened volunteers with experimental medicine studies.

Great Minds is part of the Dementias Platform UK (DPUK) family, a multi-million pound public-private partnership which launched in 2014. DPUK is directed by Professor John Gallacher (University of Oxford) and is supported by an executive team of ten other representatives from our academic and industry partners.

All medical research is reviewed by an independent group, called a Research Ethics Committee, to protect participants' interests. This study has been reviewed by the Oxford C NHS Research Ethics Committee.

We're looking for volunteers, over the age of 18, who have been involved in previous medical studies to join Great Minds. If you have been invited to join Great Minds, you have participated in a previous study. If you are part of a health study and haven't been invited yet, we hope to invite you soon.

You are not under any obligation to join, Great Minds members volunteer to take part in trials.

We will only find treatments for dementia through research and clinical trials. Research needs volunteers living with dementia and memory problems, and those who are not. At Great Minds we are focusing on volunteers from other health studies because they have a wealth of data that researchers can use in developing early treatments. Our volunteers are incredibly valuable because there are currently so few with this wealth of health data that are part of dementia research.

Joining is simple, quick and secure – just visit our [registration page] and it will take you through step by step. To join you will need to provide basic information including name, date of birth and contact details. You'll also be asked for medical information, such as health problems.

When you join you create an online account. After you have registered with your background information you'll be asked to complete regular tests of memory and mood. These are online tests and you won't need to visit a study centre.

There are a couple of online tests to complete. One measures your short-term memory, the other two mood questionnaire are commonly used by clinicians and researchers to screen for mood and anxiety problems. You will not be given feedback on how you performed on your online tests.

If you have a smartphone we have a third memory and thinking test. Over a six day period you'll be asked to complete a selection of daily tasks on our app – each lasting around 8 minutes. For as long as you agree to participate with Great Minds, every six months we'll ask you to complete the online memory tests and mood questionnaires and repeat the smart app test for 14 days in a row.

It doesn't cost anything to join Great Minds.

We would advise anyone who has a concern about their memory to discuss this with their GP. Many of us find that our memory becomes less reliable as we get older and it can be a symptom of a number of conditions.

There are four steps to joining Great Minds and it only takes few minutes to complete the basic information.

1. Join as a member - You'll set up a username and password which you use to login each time you visit.
2. Tell us about yourself - Share your contact details and let us know about health as well as mood and anxiety levels
3. Take our brain health tests - These are simple tests of your memory on your computer and smartphone (if you have one)
4. ...visit regularly and repeat the tests – We'd like you to come back every six months and repeat the tests – we'll email you a reminder.

Once you have signed up, you will be taken to your member area where you can update your profile information, contact preferences, change your password or leave the study.

When you login in follow the link to reset your password. You will be asked to enter the email address you signed up with and then sent a link to create a new password.

When you registered we emailed an email verification – if you have not received this please check your junk or spam folder. If the email still can't be found, please contact our technical team in Swansea - helpdesk@chi.swan.ac.uk.

When you login in follow the link to reset your password. If you can't remember the email address you used to register with, we will ask you to answer the security questions you set up when you first registered.

We will email you every six months with reminders to come back and complete the tests.

In the race to find treatments for dementia, researchers require volunteers on a range of different studies. Some studies are observational studies looking to understand cause-and-effect relationships. Others are experimental medicine, which investigate the mechanisms that cause the disease or evidence of the validity of experimental treatments. There are also clinical trials where volunteers are offering an intervention to evaluate the effects on health outcomes.

All studies Great Minds offer have ethical approval. This means they have been checked to make sure they protect the rights, safety and wellbeing of the people involved.