Developing a research governance process - North Yorkshire Council

In 2021, Rachel Murphy was working as a Service Manager for Mental Health Social Care services when she was awarded a NIHR predoctoral fellowship.  This gave her the opportunity to develop her own research skills and knowledge, and to link in with the research work that was taking place across the HAS directorate. Following her fellowship award, Rachel secured funding from the Curiosity Partnership and Hull University which enabled her to lead on research development activity within the HAS directorate.  

At the time of the second award, research activity was not centrally coordinated and there was no formalised process for colleagues to follow when they were approached by researchers or students, wishing to collaborate on research. Rachel initially supported capacity-building and mapping research activity that was taking place in the HAS directorate. Working alongside colleagues from the HAS governance team, Rachel then developed a Research Governance Framework to introduce a new streamlined process for all research enquiries submitted to the HAS directorate. This also drew on an existing framework used by the Children’s directorate.  

The research governance process was launched in October 2023. Both internal and external researchers are asked to submit their enquiry to a centralised e-mail. They are then sent 3 forms for completion: 

1. Application form 

This form asks the project lead to outline details of the research study, including the research question, methodology and intended impact. It also asks the applicant to outline any risks, ethical considerations such as informed consent and how personal data will be protected.  

2. Risk assessment  

This document provides statements to enable the project lead to establish whether the project is high, medium or low risk. Categories covered include the nature of the information being sought, the experience of the researchers, information security and the level of privacy offered to participants. 

3. Data protection screening form 

This screening tool has a set of questions that enable the research lead to identify whether a full data protection impact assessment is needed for the project. These cover topics such as the collection of special category or criminal conviction data, using data for a new purpose, the use of any third-party platforms to process data and any potential adverse impact on research participants if there was an information breach.  

Each application is reviewed by the research governance team, made up of colleagues from across North Yorkshire Council who are involved in research oversight. The application is then added to a centralised research log with a unique reference number. Low risk projects are signed off by the research governance team. Medium risk projects are taken to a panel with at least 4 colleagues, including senior practice leads, information governance leads, and representatives from the service area that the research relates to. Higher risk projects are taken to the HAS directorate Senior Leadership Team for review. Central to this approach is to have a process that is proportionate, and that responds to the varying levels of risk for different research projects.  

Centralising the application process for research projects means that all new projects are assessed in the same way. Some key questions considered during this process include: 

• Does this research align with council and directorate priorities? 

• Is there already research going on in this area?

• Is there capacity to support and deliver this research?

• How will vulnerable communities be protected during this research? 

• Have risks to individuals and the council been identified, and plans made to mitigate these? 

Since the process was introduced, 19 research projects have been reviewed, 4 of which were led by local authority colleagues. Several further projects are in development. The new approach has improved co-ordination and communication both with external researchers and within the HAS directorate. External researchers now have a central point of contact and can be supported by the research governance team to connect with the right colleagues. There is one centralised record of all research taking place in the directorate, which is particularly important to avoid duplication.

North Yorkshire Council was awarded NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) funding in October 2023 and the partnership was formally launched in January 2024. HDRCs aim to build research capacity and capability within local government to embed a culture of evidence-based decision making to reduce health inequalities. This funding has created the opportunity to build on the success of the HAS governance process, and a working group has been set up to explore how this can be extended across all council directorates. The working group is also looking at whether a Council Ethics Panel is needed to examine the ethical aspects of proposed research projects in more detail.  

For more information about the research governance process at North Yorkshire Council, please contact HDRC@northyorks.gov.uk 

This learning story was prepared with support from NIHR RSS Specialist Centre for Public Health delivered by Newcastle University and Partners. With thanks to HDRC North Yorkshire for providing the content.