9
New student research eligibility criteria -
live from 1 September
New eligibility criteria for standalone student research went live on
1 September 2021. These changes are designed to ensure that students'
experience of research reflects how modern health and social care research
is conducted.
This new criteria encourages innovative approaches to student research like group
research, mock Research Ethics Committees (REC) or shadowing a range of
people in an existing project.
The changes mean some master's students will now be eligible to apply for
approval to carry out their research.
To help students plan their research we have created a new student research
toolkit. The toolkit has been designed to pull together the resources a student will
need to understand what approvals are required and whether they are eligible to
carry out their research in the UK. It contains links to existing decision tools as well
as some new ones developed especially for students. It uses a simple question and
answer format and will provide answers to the following questions:
Is my study research?
Is my research taking place in the NHS and will it need NHS approval?
Do I need NHS REC review?
What type of NHS ethics review do I need?
Can I carry out my research?
Completing the tool will provide students with an understanding of what activities
they can do and ensures that they do not waste time applying for approval for
research that they are not able to carry out under the new student eligibility criteria.
Through completion of the toolkit, students can access supplementary declarations
that need to be completed by their academic supervisor, confirming that they meet
the criteria for the type of approvals they need for their research. There are three
separate declarations depending on the approvals needed - the toolkit guides the
student to the right one based on their responses.
Please share this update and new resource with colleagues and students who
might benefit. Further details about the new eligibility criteria can be found on the
HRA website.