Creating a research governance framework 

Research governance frameworks provide practical guidance to ensure the data, rights and wellbeing of research participants and researchers are protected. They provide clarity on the standards for research conducted or managed within an organisation and the responsibilities of those involved. They also outline the process for proposed research activities to be reviewed, and where necessary, authorised, by the organisation.

Cumberland Council did not have an existing research governance process in place when the HDRC started. The NIHR HDRC Cumberland team undertook a thematic review of 28 different frameworks and guidance documents from the NHS, other local authorities and universities to find points of commonality and points of difference between disciplines.

The team then wrote a new research governance framework for the Council, drawing on areas of alignment between the existing frameworks and guidance. Some challenging decisions had to be made where there was disagreement in areas such as the degree of formality of ethical approval recommended, different framings of public involvement and participation, and attitudes towards the use of artificial intelligence in different aspects of research projects.

Throughout this process, the team maintained the guiding principle that the framework had to be fit for purpose for a Council. They aimed to create a research governance framework that was multidisciplinary enough to encompass the entire breadth of work of the Council, light enough bureaucratically to ensure it was used, and robust enough to protect all research participants and the Council from harm.

The resulting framework has a clear step by step process for colleagues to follow. Before undertaking any research, colleagues are asked to register the basic details of a project on the Cumberland Council evidence register and to conduct a risk assessment to assess the project in terms of the sensitivity of the topic and the vulnerability of the people it hopes to engage. This process generates a score which determines what further action needs to be taken. The team provide colleagues with additional support for higher risk projects which require further planning to mitigate risk or obtain external ethical approval.

The research governance framework was launched across all directorates under the title ‘Gathering Evidence Safely’ in January 2025. This language was chosen as the HDRC team knew this was something everyone in the Council would agree they needed to do, as opposed to using the word ‘research’, which many staff are still working out their relationship to.

A staged approach was taken to launching the Research Governance Framework:

• The HDRC team met with every Directorate Management Team and asked Assistant Directors to cascade the information into their teams.

• The new framework was also promoted in four consecutive weekly internal communications bulletins.

• The HDRC team offered online and in person 'drop in sessions' so staff could come and discuss the new framework and how to use it.

• They also contacted everyone they knew to be research active in the Council and asked them to register their current projects.

Implementation of the Research Governance Framework

The team meet every 2 weeks to review all the projects submitted for review and to advise on the design and delivery of research across the Council. All projects are saved in a ‘Pipeline’ document, which provides a single record of all research activity in one place.

In the 6 months since the research governance framework was launched, 37 new projects have been registered in the research pipeline, and 19 projects have been completed. To date, only 1 project has not been progressed.

The team have also provided 25 hours of support to colleagues prior to projects being registered. Council officers have reported that they greatly appreciate the support of the team in designing their projects through this process, ensuring they are ethical and robust. Using a risk assessment structure has worked well as this is similar to the Council’s generic risk assessment framework and therefore already familiar to colleagues. It is also now possible to download lists of research projects by topic or directorate to inform Council decisions and inspections.

The NIHR HDRC Cumberland team suggest that other local authorities seeking to launch a framework should:

• Plan for continual communication and promotion, as even after considerable publicity, some colleagues are not aware of the research governance framework

• Ensure colleagues understand the support they will gain by registering their project as making the benefits explicit has been very helpful in building buy in to the process.

You can view the research governance framework online: Cumbria Observatory – Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC).

For more information, please contact Daniel Gibbons, HDRC Research Officer daniel.gibbons@cumberland.gov.uk 

This page is available as a PDF, this webpage is the accessible version.