Governance
Research Governance can be defined as the broad range of procedures and processes adopted to ensure that research undertaken under the auspices of CPHS is ethically sound and of high quality. Key to these goals are:
- appropriately trained staff
- well designed research aiming to answer an important and well defined research question
- ethical review and approval of research planned
- meticulous execution of research, in accordance with protocol and operating procedures
- care in handling and reporting of confidential data, even if fully anonymised
- safe archiving of data together with sufficient documentation to make the data useable
- skilled and appropriate analysis and reporting
CPHS takes research governance very seriously and makes strenuous efforts to ensure that our research meets all the standards above.
The vast majority of research undertaken within CPHS has undergone scientific review in the process of funding. Furthermore, CPHS research with patients will almost always have been subject to NHS ethical review procedures, a necessary condition for the study to go ahead. CPHS also has its own Ethical Review Committee, and approval by this committee is necessary for all projects not already subject to some other institutional Ethical oversight/process, such as studies recruiting individual participants from the community, not via the NHS.
CPHS staff also contribute indirectly to research governance across the UK by:
- delivering a number of degree and training courses that inculcate necessary skills for good research practice
- undertaking scientific review of grant applications for funding bodies
- membership of grant awarding committees and NHS Ethical review committees
- membership of trial Data Monitoring and Ethics Committees
CPHS Research Governance
Lead: Professor Gordon D Murray
Ethical Review Committee: Pamela Warner, Julia Lawton, Allison Worth
[The CPHS Ethics Committee is linked into the University of Edinburgh College of Humanities and Social Science Research Ethics Committee, so where there are ethical concerns regarding a particular study there is provision for seeking broader input to the process of its ethical review.]
