The Research Ethics Service (RES) is one of the Health Research Authority's core functions, committed to enabling and supporting ethical research in the NHS. It protects the rights, safety, dignity and wellbeing of research participants.
We have a duty to provide an efficient and robust ethics review service that maximises UK competitiveness for health research and maximises the return from investment in the UK, while protecting participants and researchers.
We have a dual mission to protect the rights, safety, dignity and well-being of research participants and to facilitate and promote ethical research that is of potential benefit to participants, science and society.
The Research Ethics Service consists of:
- Research Ethics Committees (RECs) in England reviewing health and social care research
- volunteer members and chairs that sit on NHS RECs
- staff (based in our offices throughout England).
The Governance Arrangements for Research Ethics Committees (GAfREC) describe what is expected from RECs when reviewing research proposals.