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Research projects are diverse and so you will need to consider and identify the methodology that is appropriate for your particular project. Key to this activity is being clear about the purpose of the research and formulating your research question.

It is important to ensure you have the right people in the correct roles supporting your project. When it comes to your project based research we would expect your research team to include the following roles, which is in line with policy and legislation; Sponsor; Sponsor’s legal representative; Chief Investigator; and Principal Investigator.

Student studies are those undertaken primarily for the purpose of obtaining an educational qualification. Studies where the main purpose is to undertake the specific research and the educational qualification is secondary do not fall into this category.

The research protocol is an essential part of a research project. It is a full description of the research study and will act as a ‘manual’ for members of the research team to ensure everyone adheres to the methods outlined. As the study gets underway, it can then be used to monitor the study’s progress and evaluate its outcomes.

If your research project involves direct contact with patients, the Research Ethics Committee will want to know how you intend to identify potential participants. There are a number of things to consider including confidentiality and information governance.

The results of research should be reported, whether through publication in peer reviewed journals or other means of dissemination. Negative as well as positive results should be published, or at least made publicly available.

When applying for HRA Approval you will need to check what supporting documents you will need to provide well in advance of when you expect to submit your application. This will avoid unnecessary delays to your application.

It is vital to the success of your project that you consider at an early stage how and where participants will be identified, recruited and participate in your project.

This section outlines the study support available for researchers, including details about how to access toolkits and other helpful decision tools.

Our research planning section focuses on specific research projects. Here we provide information about collections of data (research databases) and/or tissues (research tissue banks) that are used for research.