How to Join: Aged 12-15

We would like to invite you to join Generation Scotland, which has helped to discover important information about many health conditions, including mental health conditions, Covid-19, cancer, heart disease, strokes and much more.

There are many great reasons to help improve health and wellbeing in Scotland.

We know that many young people are concerned about their own health and the health of those around them. The LockdownLowdown survey completed by 2,400 young people like yourself in Scotland during the pandemic found that 77% of them were concerned about their own mental health, but most didn’t know how to improve things. TeenCovidLife also showed that young people had an appetite to be involved in future health research.

Since 2023, Generation Scotland has begun involving 12-15 year olds in medical research allowing scientists and researchers to find out more about mental health and other health conditions. This research could ultimately lead to cures.

While adult volunteers have already made a massive difference, there has been a gap in this knowledge around health data for your age group.

Imagine how much we could learn about the health of young people with your help! 

You can choose to join as an individual or you can invite your family to join too. As a family health study, we are particularly interested in learning about genetics and the environment and why some health conditions run in families while others don’t.

Sign Up Independently

Taking part is all online. If you are aged 12 to 15, you can sign up yourself. Once you have done this, your parent or guardian will need to agree that you have understood what you are signing up to.

Signing up takes an average of 20 minutes:

1. Sign up at www.gen.scot
2. Complete a 10-20min questionnaire.
3. Under 16? Provide parent/guardian contact details as they must confirm you understand what you're agreeing to.
4. We'll send you a saliva sample kit to complete and return. Just pop it in your nearest post box.
5. Receive your £20 e-voucher

Sign Up Through a Parent/Guardian

Alternatively, your parent or guardian can send you an invitation email or text once they've signed up themselves.

How much you want to be involved is totally up to you. If you complete the steps above, you are officially a volunteer with Generation Scotland, as your data will be helping research. However, you can choose to do more if you wish.

For example, from time to time you will be asked to complete additional questionnaires or take part in new studies. When you receive an invitation, you can choose which ones you want to do, if any.

When signing up, you can also choose to be contacted about other opportunities, such as helping us to shape research and raise awareness about Generation Scotland with others.

It only takes around 20 minutes to become a volunteer and make a massive difference to how we study and understand health in Scotland. It is a free way to give something back and help make Scotland healthier tomorrow.  

If you would like more information or have any suggestions on how we can improve what we do, drop us an email at genscot@ed.ac.uk or call us on 0131 651 8718.

Help us make Scotland better tomorrow by becoming a Generation Scotland volunteer!