During 2019, the Health Research Authority worked with universities and students to review how student research was carried out in the UK.
Students studying health and social care related degrees may choose to carry out research as part of their learning.
However, during our review we found that the HRA was receiving hundreds of applications each year for research being done by students as part of their educational course. We heard that some of this activity was not giving students an experience of research that reflects how modern health and social care research is conducted.
To help address this issue we planned to change the types of health and social care research that certain students would be allowed to do in the NHS, so that students had a better experience of learning about research.
We had originally agreed with universities for these changes to be made gradually throughout 2020. However, in March 2020 we had to accelerate these plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
We implemented our plans quickly and paused student research applications to create capacity for urgent COVID-19 related research.
On 1 September 2021, we announced new eligibility criteria to help make it clear what research students are able to carry out in the NHS. We also launched a toolkit to help support students with deciding what standalone research was appropriate to be carried out in the NHS.
The eligibility criteria are split into three categories.
Eligibility criteria
Undergraduate level
Health and social care research applications from students working at undergraduate level are not accepted for:
- Research Ethics Committee (REC) review
- HRA and HCRW Approval
- Research and Development study-wide review in Scotland and Northern Ireland
Master's level
Some applications are not accepted, but applicants should complete the student research toolkit in the first instance, to check eligibility.
Doctorate level
Applicants are eligible to complete health and social care research, subject to relevant approvals being in place.
As a result of these changes we saw a reduction in the overall number of applications needing to be reviewed by Research Ethics Committees from 2020 onwards.
You can read more about these changes in the student research section of our website.