Leeds · Yorkshire · UK-wide
User Research in Leeds
We help Leeds and Yorkshire organisations understand people better - through usability testing, patient and public involvement (PPIE), in-depth interviews, and more. Whether you're building a digital product or redesigning an NHS service, we find you the real insight that makes the difference.
Based in West Yorkshire. Working everywhere.
Participation Studio is a research practice rooted in Leeds. We work with startups and scale-ups, NHS trusts and PCNs, charities, and large enterprises - running the kind of user research that actually changes decisions, not just fills decks.
We're not locked into one method. Depending on what you need to learn, we might run moderated usability sessions, recruit a patient panel for PPIE, facilitate a co-design workshop, or send a targeted survey. The method follows the question - not the other way round.
If you're in Leeds, we can be in the room. If you're across the UK, we work remotely just as effectively. Either way, you get clear findings and a straight line to confident decisions.
Research that fits what you actually need
We cover the full range of user research - from rapid digital usability studies to complex patient involvement programmes. Here's how most Leeds and Yorkshire clients work with us.
Usability Testing
Watch real users navigate your website, app, or digital product. Moderated sessions - in Leeds or remote - that reveal exactly where people get lost, confused, or give up. The fastest way to find out what's broken before it costs you.
Usability testing →PPIE & Patient and Public Involvement
Credible patient and public involvement for NHS trusts, PCNs, healthtech companies, and pharmaceutical organisations. Whether for grant applications, research ethics, or service co-design - PPIE done properly makes everything stronger. We understand that commissioners and reviewers can tell the difference between box-ticking and genuine involvement.
PPIE & PPI services →UX Research for Digital Products
Deeper research for product teams who need to understand not just how people use something, but why they make the decisions they do. Interviews, diary studies, contextual enquiry, and discovery research - woven into your product development cycle.
UX research →In-Depth User Research
One-to-one research conversations that get beyond surface-level feedback. Particularly valuable when you're working with complex journeys, sensitive topics, or hard-to-reach groups - including patients, carers, and people with lived experience.
In-depth research →Design Validation
Test ideas, prototypes, and concepts before they go into development. Figma designs, wireframes, or even paper sketches - testing early is always cheaper than fixing later. We validate direction so your team builds the right thing with confidence.
Design validation →Focus Groups & Workshops
When you need group perspectives, collective discussion, or participatory co-design. We facilitate focus groups and workshops for service design, community consultation, and early-stage concept exploration - in Leeds or wherever your participants are.
Focus groups & workshops →Where we work: digital, health, and beyond
Our Leeds-based team has experience across sectors that other research agencies rarely combine. That matters - because the methods used in healthcare research are often exactly what's needed for complex digital products, and vice versa.
Digital products & technology
Websites, apps, SaaS platforms, ecommerce, and enterprise software. Usability testing and UX research that feeds directly into your product roadmap. Remote and in-person sessions across Leeds, Yorkshire, and the UK.
NHS & healthcare
Research for NHS trusts, PCNs, NHS digital services, healthtech platforms, and clinical services. PPIE, patient research, and service design research - meeting the standards that commissioners and ethics boards require.
PPIE for NHS trusts →Pharmaceutical & clinical research
Patient research for pharmaceutical organisations and clinical trial teams. Reaching diverse patient populations, capturing lived experience, and supporting patient-centred research design. PPIE built for peer-reviewed robustness.
Pharmaceutical research →Public sector & charity
Community consultation, policy co-design, and service user research for councils, housing associations, charities, and public bodies. Research that builds trust with the communities you serve.
Fintech, proptech & professional services
B2B platforms and complex transactional services. We test dashboards, onboarding flows, booking systems, and professional tools - with participants who match your actual user base.
Primary care networks
PPIE and patient research tailored to PCN structures and primary care improvement priorities. Supporting the patient involvement that ICS frameworks and ICB requirements increasingly expect.
PCN research →In Leeds, or wherever your users are
Being based in West Yorkshire means we can be genuinely local when that matters - and genuinely remote when that's what's right for the research. Here's how we think about it.
In-person research in Leeds and Yorkshire
Some research benefits enormously from being in the room. Body language, physical context, group dynamics in workshops, testing physical touchpoints alongside digital ones - these things don't transfer well to video calls.
We go to where participants are - your office, a community centre, a GP surgery, a library, a participant's own home or workplace. We don't assume people can travel to a research venue, particularly in healthcare, PPIE, and community work where that assumption is precisely what creates unrepresentative findings. Being present in a community isn't a nice-to-have - it's often what makes the research credible.
Good for: healthcare and PPIE research, elderly or digitally excluded participants, complex physical-digital journeys, community consultation, stakeholder workshops, B2B tools with complex workflows.
Remote research across the UK
Remote research isn't a compromise - for many projects it's the better choice. Faster recruitment, broader geographic reach, lower cost, and participants in their own natural environments (which often means more honest behaviour).
We run moderated sessions via Zoom or Teams, with participants recruited from our panels or sourced specifically for your project. Digital usability studies, remote PPIE panels, national surveys - all run and analysed by our Leeds team.
Good for: digital usability testing, national participant pools, quick-turn validation studies, prototype testing, surveys, and any project where location isn't the point.
Why Leeds organisations work with us
Most user research agencies do one thing well. We've spent years building expertise across digital product research and healthcare and public sector research - which are more connected than they might seem. The skills needed to do good PPIE with NHS patients overlap significantly with those needed to do good usability research with complex enterprise software users. Rigour, sensitivity, the ability to get honest responses from people who might otherwise tell you what they think you want to hear.
We're not a large consultancy. You'll work directly with experienced researchers, not handed off to juniors after the sales call. And our findings are written to be acted on - not shelved in a SharePoint folder.
Who we work with in Leeds and Yorkshire
Digital agencies, product teams, NHS organisations, pharmaceutical companies, charities, and public bodies. Leeds startups who need to validate before they build. Established Yorkshire businesses who need to understand why conversion is dropping. Healthcare organisations who need PPIE that holds up to scrutiny.
Other UK locations
We work across the UK from our Yorkshire base. Here's where else we have dedicated pages.
Usability Testing in Leeds
The dedicated page for moderated usability testing in Leeds: in-person sessions locally, remote sessions anywhere, with local recruitment.
Usability testing in LeedsUsability Testing in Sheffield
Usability testing for Sheffield and South Yorkshire organisations, remote or in person.
Usability testing in SheffieldUser Research in Manchester
Usability testing, UX research, and PPIE for Manchester and Greater Manchester organisations.
User research in ManchesterUser Research in Birmingham
Usability testing, UX research, and PPIE for Birmingham and West Midlands organisations, with inclusive recruitment built in.
User research in BirminghamUser Research in London
Usability testing, UX research, and PPIE for London organisations, delivered remotely at Yorkshire-based pricing.
User research in LondonCommon questions about user research in Leeds
What is the difference between usability testing and PPIE?
Usability testing focuses on how people interact with a product or service - finding friction, confusion, and barriers in digital or physical journeys. PPIE (Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement) is about involving patients, carers, and the public in shaping research, healthcare services, or policy - often for NHS, clinical, or public sector organisations. The methods sometimes overlap, but the purpose and governance are distinct. We do both, and sometimes both at once for healthtech and digital health projects.
Do you only work with Leeds-based organisations?
No - we work across the UK. Being based in West Yorkshire means we can offer in-person research in Leeds and Yorkshire easily, but most of our clients are a mix of local and national. Remote research is fully established as a methodology, and for many projects it's genuinely the right choice. If you're in Manchester, London, Bristol, or anywhere else, we work with you just as effectively.
How quickly can you turn around a research project?
A quick usability validation study (4-5 participants, focused scope) can go from brief to findings in two weeks. A more comprehensive study with 8-10 sessions typically takes three to four weeks. PPIE and community research programmes have longer timelines depending on recruitment complexity and governance requirements. We're transparent about timelines upfront - no false promises.
Can you recruit participants in Leeds and Yorkshire?
Yes. We recruit Leeds and Yorkshire participants through community networks, local panels, and professional recruitment. If you need participants who reflect a specific regional audience - Northern consumers, Yorkshire-based patients, Leeds business users - we can do that. We also recruit nationally and can screen for very specific demographics, health conditions, professional roles, or digital behaviours.
What does user research cost?
Our usability testing projects start from £5,500. A core study typically runs from £9,500, and comprehensive multi-session programmes from £16,000. PPIE and more complex research programmes are quoted based on scope. We're transparent about what's included - participant incentives, recruitment, facilitation, analysis, and a clear findings report are all standard.
Do you work in healthcare and the NHS?
Yes, and it's one of our areas of particular depth. We work with NHS trusts, primary care networks, ICBs, healthtech companies, pharmaceutical organisations, and clinical research teams. We understand PPIE requirements, ethics frameworks, and the specific sensitivities of involving patients and the public in healthcare research. Our approach meets the standards that NIHR, research ethics boards, and commissioning bodies expect.
We fully recognise the effort your team invested in recruitment, moderation, and analysis, and we genuinely appreciate the quality of the discussions and reporting.
- Usability problems in an insulin device surfaced before manufacturing locked anything in, with human factors evidence supporting the regulatory submission.
- An NHS patient portal team got a prioritised, evidenced list of adoption barriers, and the highest-leverage fix wasn't the one they expected.
- Patient involvement changed a trial's primary endpoint before the protocol was finalised, cited by the ethics committee as a model for evidencing PPIE.
Trusted PPI and PPIE delivery partner to the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Accelerated Surgical Care.
Let's talk about your research
Whether you need quick usability validation, a PPIE programme for an NHS bid, or ongoing UX research for a product team - we'll help you figure out the right approach. No jargon, no oversell.
Start a conversationWe usually respond within one working day.
Prefer to talk it through first?
Book a free 20-minute call. No obligation, no sales pitch. We'll tell you honestly whether research is worth it for your decision, and what it would cost.