Research governance in health and social care
Kirklees Council wants to ensure that research staff and participants are protected from harm and research is of high quality, meets gaps in knowledge and does not duplicate existing studies. The council also wants resources for research to be used wisely.
Kirklees Council follows the UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research (Health Research Authority (HRA), 2017) which sets out standards for research governance.
What research governance is
Research governance is the system which sets and monitors standards in research and ensures that all research carried out is of a high standard. The Research Governance Framework for Health and Social Care was issued by the Department of Health in 2001 and updated in 2005. In October 2017, the Health Research Authority published a revised version which extended the scope and responsibilities for local authorities.
What to do if you want to carry out health or social care research in Kirklees
- Go to the Is My Study Research? decision tool.
- If the project is defined as research, the Do I need NHS REC approval? tool will help you to decide if the project needs to go through the national ethics committee and be logged on the Integrated Research Application System (IRAS) hosted by the HRA.
- If your study is research, please let us know: Contact us
- Whether your study is defined as research or not please add details of your project on to our Involve database.
If you work for Kirklees Council and have been asked by an external researcher to participate in health and social care research or to invite colleagues or service users to do so, please contact us with details of the proposed research so that it can be considered for approval.
For any other enquiries about research governance, contact us.
Contact us
What research governance applies to
- Research that involves protection and promotion of public health.
- Research undertaken in or by a UK Health Department, its non-Departmental public bodies or the NHS and social care providers.
- Clinical and non-clinical research, research undertaken by NHS or social care staff using the resources of health and social care providers.
- Any research undertaken within the health and social care systems that might have an impact on the quality of those services.
This excludes children's social care service users except where the project also involves health research.
Definition of research
HRA (2017) defines research as, "the attempt to derive generalisable or transferable new knowledge to answer or refine relevant questions with scientifically sound methods."" This excludes audits of practice and service evaluations.
This definition includes an attempt at generalisability or transferability, i.e. the project deliberately uses methods intended to achieve findings that can be applied to settings other than those in which they were tested. The actual generalisability or transferability of some research findings may only become apparent once the project has been completed.