Health and social care research projects for educational purposes

Last updated on 3 Sep 2020

As the lockdown eases, we want to update students, supervisors and higher education institutions (HEIs) on our current position on student research and ethics review.

Back in March the HRA and devolved administrations announced we had decided to stop reviewing applications for individual undergraduate and master’s student projects until further notice while we prioritised the urgent review of COVID-19 studies. This was also due to the significant pressure on the NHS/HSC, limiting its ability to participate in research studies unrelated to COVID-19. Suspending the review of student research also allowed research ethics committees to focus on COVID-19 studies.

Although the number of new COVID-19 studies has reduced, pressures on the NHS remain. As a result, our existing position of not reviewing applications for individual undergraduate and master’s student projects will remain in place. This means that any student project below PhD level requiring research approval will not be able to proceed. Any students with approved studies are reminded to check with the relevant NHS/HSC organisations locally about whether or not their projects may continue.

We aim to publish more information about review of student research soon.

You can find more information on our current position on our student research webpage.

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