Research Management and Governance Team (RM&G Team)

Research Governance is primarily concerned with the implementation of the principles and standards of good clinical practice, the adherence to a range of regulations and the protection of service users.

The public has a right to expect high scientific, ethical and financial standards, transparent decision-making processes, clear allocation of responsibilities and robust monitoring arrangements.

• Locally assessing, arranging, and confirming your research project as per the HRA approval process
• Ethics advice and guidance
• NIHR Clinical Research Network Portfolio
• Sponsorship advice and guidance

The UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research (available on thehra.nhs.uk website), devised by the Department of Health, is designed to:

• Safeguard the participants of research projects
• Protect investigators/researchers by providing a robust and clear framework
• Monitor practice and performance
• Enhance the ethical and scientific quality of research
• Promote good practice and minimise risk

There are a number of steps to obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals and local confirmations required to begin your research. Firstly, you must make us aware of your intention to undertake research at GOSH:

• Register your project and submit your grant application to the Project Registration Team
• Apply to have your own account study reviewed by the Clinical Research Adoptions Committee (CRAC)

Once your study has been registered and been awarded funding or approved by CRAC it will be passed to the Research Governance Team – who will get in touch with you regarding the local review of your study.

Some important things to remember before starting your research project:

• Evidence of peer review is required for clinical research – either from a funding body or a scientific approval from CRAC.
• Every researcher working on site at GOSH requires an employment relationship with the Trust – either substantive or honorary.

You cannot undertake any aspect of your research until your project has received the necessary regulatory approvals and local confirmations of capacity/ capability. Not all studies will require a full review or ethical consideration, however you will need to discuss your research project with the RM&G team.

All UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health student projects need to be registered with us here in the R&D office, please contact research.registration@gosh.nhs.uk for further advice.

A governance review is undertaken, and the R&D office will advise on what is necessary for R&D approval/confirmation of capacity and capability to be issued so that the project can commence. Full student guidance available here (592.77 KB).

The R&D office primarily deals with research projects however some Clinical Projects at GOSH may not be research but will require review and approval from the Trust.

These Clinical projects include service evaluation and audits. More guidance on the teams that look at these can be found here: