The School of Health and Life Sciences is committed to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research and knowledge transfer across the disciplines of health, nursing and social care, biological and biomedical sciences, psychology and vision sciences.
Clinical Research Approval Process
Clinical Research Approval Process
Clinical research involving the NHS or social care in the UK requires a series of approvals to ensure ethical, legal and regulatory compliance
Student Research Eligibility
In September 2021, the Health Research Authority introduced new eligibility criteria for standalone student research:
Undergraduate students Applications are no longer accepted for NHS Research Ethics Committee (REC) review, HRA/HCRW approval, or NHS R&D review.
Master’s students Applicants must use the Student Research Toolkit to check eligibility. Some projects are not eligible for REC review or HRA/HCRW approval.
Doctoral students Doctoral research is eligible, subject to appropriate approvals. Use of the toolkit is recommended to determine requirements.
Process Overview
In most cases, the approval process follows these steps:
Confirm whether your project is classed as research
Check whether it requires NHS Ethics approval
Check student eligibility (if applicable)
Obtain internal (university) ethics approval
Obtain internal sponsor approval
Apply for external approvals via the Integrated Research Application System (IRAS) where required
