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Research Support
Information on this page can help you with finding funding opportunities for your research, identifying potential research ideas, assisting with applying for HRA and Ethics applications, developing study documentations, and also pointing you in the right direction with regards to whom to liaise with for specific research related requirements, and can also provide support with recruitment data management and general research questions.
Contact us
Institute Manager
Ms. Marcia Jacks
Tel: 020 3108 2035 (internal 52035)
E-mail: m.jacks@ucl.ac.uk
Work days: Monday - Friday
Address
Room 237a, Second Floor
Medical School Building
74 Huntley Street
London WC1E 6AU
Please take a look at the tabs below for support and information on research coordination, in the first instance. If you are unable to find what you're looking for, or need further support - please contact Marcia Jacks using the email address provided above.
- Research Ideas Proforma
If you are thinking about setting up a research project, please take a look at the following webpages for an insight into the wealth of existing research activities currently taking place within IfWH Research Departments and UCLH Maternity Services, and UCLH Gynaecology.
When you have a research idea, before you begin creating an application for HRA or Ethics approval, consider the following questions to determine whether your study idea will be feasible to carry out.
If this is your first research project, it is a good idea to have a chat with your research group lead or line manager, for an indepth discussion of these questions and for further guidance from someone with research experience. In addition to this, please see below for a specially-designed tool to help you determine the type of study your idea could be categorised into, and suggestions about suitable courses of action on how to carry out your study.
The Health Research Authority website has a tool which can help you to determine if your study is research, or if it falls into a different defined category. Click on the blue button to be redirected to the HRA Decision Tool webpage.
- JRO Sponsorship Applications (NHS involvement)
When you have determined that your study idea is considered as clinical research - involving the NHS and NHS patients - for applications which involve the NHS in any way, an IRAS form needs to be completed, which can be found here - www.myresearchproject.org.uk
Upon completion of the IRAS form, before submitting, please follow the steps outlined in the infographic below (you can also right click and "save image as..." for viewing offline at a later date if you wish):
Some Useful Documents and Templates
Relevant Documents for application
Required Study Documents
(also known as Data Collection Form)adding a recruiting site
- UCL REC Review Applications (non-NHS involvement)
If your research does not involve the NHS, then you can apply for ethics approval through the UCL Research Ethics Committee (UCL REC), where you can find a wealth of information and guidance on applying for ethics for non-clinical research.
Please see the infographic below for a brief step-by-step guide on how to get started (you can also right click and "save image as..." for viewing offline at a later date if you wish):
Documents required for making an application can be found below.
The committee meets regularly, but it is advisable to check the dates of upcoming application deadlines and meetings dates, so as to plan your submission in advance.
For more information on obtaining ethics approval from the UCL REC, you can contact the Research Ethics Coordinator, based in the Office of the Vice Provost (Research).
To begin an application, you will need to register as a new user, or alternatively, if you already have an account, then sign in.
Some documents you will need to complete and submit alongside the application, can be found below:
- NIHR Portfolio Adoption
There are many benefits of having a study adopted onto the NIHR Portfolio. Please visit Clinical Research Network Support Services for further information on how to apply for portfolio adoption.
Visit UK Clinical Trials Gateway to check if your study is already on the NIHR Portfolio
If not, please use the infographic below, to see if your study is eligible for portfolio adoption, (you can also right click and "save image as..." for viewing offline at a later date if you wish).
When completing your IRAS form, you should tick the relevant box on Question. 5 of the online form, after which you will be prompted to submit a Portfolio Adoption Form (PAF).
- The PAF serves as a “heads-up” to Local and Specialty teams so they can begin working with the study team.
- The PAF is reviewed to ensure it is a valid application and a preliminary assessment of eligibility will be made.
- CRN Support Services
The CRN Study Support Service helps researchers and the life sciences industry to plan, set up, and deliver high quality research to time and target, in the NHS in England. This service is for all studies eligible for support (according to the NIHR Portfolio Adoption Guidelines), regardless of location, study type, study size, therapy or research area.
Please click on the images below to be redirected to the relevant pages to find out more about these services:
- Study Amendments
Amendments are changes made to a research project, after approval from a review body has been given. If you plan to make an amendment to your research project, you will need to determine whether you need to notify the review bodies from whom you have received approvals.
There are two types of amnedments - minor (non-substantial) or substantial. A wealth of information is available on the Health Research Authority website regarding amendments. For notification of Substantial Amendments, the appropriate form must be used on IRAS. And for non-substantial amendments, please use the form below, and speak to your Study Portfolio Officer from the JRO.
Please refer to the two flowcharts below for some guidance on submitting amendments (you can also right click and "save image as..." for viewing offline at a later date if you wish).
Substantial Amendment 
Non-Substantial Amendment 
- Good Clinical Practice (GCP)
Good Clinical Practice (GCP) is the international ethical, scientific, and practical standard to which all clinical research is conducted. Compliance with GCP provides public assurance that the rights, safety and wellbeing of research participants are protected and that research data are reliable.
Everyone involved in the conduct of clinical research must be competent to perform their tasks, qualified by education, training and experience; and must have GCP training.
In order to be competent to perform their tasks, it is important that everyone involved in research is trained or appropriately experienced to perform the specific tasks they are being asked to undertake.
GCP Training can be completed online. You will need to set up an account with NIHR Learn, and the training takes roughly between 1-2 hours to complete, and can be paused and continued later.
There are also face-to-face training opportunites available, if that is preferred - more information can be found on NIHR Learn.
An overview of the Key Principles of GCP, can be found below.
(You can also right click and "save image as..." for viewing offline at a later date if you wish).
- Other Useful Training
- For a range of other training opportunities, such as Referencing and Citation, Academic Writing, Research Methods and Techniques, Microsoft Office Applications, and many more; UCL staff can logon to Moodle to search for courses.
- Research Passports
A research passport is required if you wish to carry out research activities in an organisation of which you are not a contracted employee.
If you are employed by UCL and you hold an honorary contract with UCLH, please note you will not require a Research Passport in order to do research at UCLH.
However, if you are not an honorary contract holder, then please follow the steps outlined in the flowchart below to obtain a Research Passport before proceeding with your research activities; (you can also right click and "save image as..." for viewing offline at a later date if you wish).
Please download the relevant forms below:
- Please apply for a DBS Check (if you do not already have a recent one) before proceeding with completing this form, as the DBS Check can take several weeks to return. For information on how to do this, please contact the IfWH Senior HR Administrator. - This is an additional form to be completed alongside the Occupational Health Check in Section 5.2. - A set of questions to be completed for the Joint Research Office, before submitting the above Research Passport Application Form alongside your addtional documents.- Research Funding Proposals
Find below a flow diagram of the submission procedure for research funding proposals. Please click here to download a PDF copy and familiarise yourself with the procedures and the timeframes involved.
- Important Contacts
Below is a list of people/groups who can be contacted for various research-support related queries.
- Portfolio Management Systems - EDGE (local system) and CPMS (central system)
CPMS, as the name suggests, is the central portfolio management system, whereas EDGE is a local recruitment uploading system. Currently there is no linking interface between the two systems, so data is duplicated on both. However, there are improvements being made regarding this, so in the future CPMS will be able to feed recruiting information directly from EDGE - researchers will be informed about this in due course.
Studies which are on the NIHR Portfolio, are required to regularly submit recruitment updates to the Central Portfolio Management System (CPMS). To gain access to this system, you will need to set up an account with your email address - please click here: NIHR CPMS account setup. You will then need to request access to specific studies; email the CPMS team and provide study details such as full title, IRAS ID number, etc.
All studies recruiting at UCLH are required to update recruitment updates on to EDGE - the local recruitment management system. To gain access to EDGE, you will need to request the R&D EDGE Coordinator for login information and a password; you will also need to provide study names/details for access to those specific studies.
Please see the handbooks below for help on how to use both of these systems.
- Funding Opportunites
Please see below a list of organisations where you may seek funding opportunites to carry out your research.
British Association for Sexual Health and HIV
British Maternal and Fetal Medicine Society
British Society of Breast Radiology
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
National Institute for Health Research
