Trust sponsorship and Trust Approvals

Sponsorship by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust follows the same process RGI team process as sponsorship by Imperial College.

If your research involves NHS patients, staff and/or facilities, your research cannot proceed without formal approval - called Capacity and Capability approval from the R&D Office at each of the NHS Trusts in which your research is to take place. 

You must consult as early as possible with the relevant R&D Office and the feasibility team at Imperial NHS Trust, to discuss the requirements and impact of your research.  The feasibility team will be able to help you locate appropriate expertise within the Trust for your research (e.g. the hospital pharmacy).

It is mandatory to have a sponsorship letter prior to submission to Ethic Committees and/or MHRA (CTIMPs and certain Medical Device studies only). It is advisable to obtain an initial review from RGIT to proceed with applications for approvals for your project. It is also advisable to obtain approval to proceed from the NHS R&D Office before you apply for ethics approval for your project. However, final R&D approval will be conditional on receiving Health Research Authority (HRA) approval.

For R&D approval at Imperial Healthcare NHS Trust it is a requirement that approval is obtained from the appropriate Divisional Research Manager (DRM) who will issue both feasibility and Capacity and Capability approval.

Please see NHS Trust contacts for details of the R&D Offices at our partner Trusts.