Managing Research in the Trust

There are two types of research activity in which the East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) engages: 

  • Research Management and Governance (RM&G) which consists of the mandatory responsibilities the Trust needs to discharge in relation to overseeing all local, national and international projects that recruit participants from within our Trust; and
  • Those research studies that are initiated and led by Trust staff members and honorary appointees, and for which the Trust often provides financial support and/or acts as formal sponsor.

To oversee both types of activity, the Trust has established a Research Strategy Committee whose principal purpose is to advise the Trust Board on issues related to research funding, policy and strategy.  It has a role scrutinising research activities, monitoring RM&G, supporting effective dissemination and utilisation of research, and collaboration of clinical services and researchers in the Trust.  The RSC provides an opportunity for wider discussion of research issues relevant to the Trust and ensures the transparency of both the debates and the decision-making process.

To accomplish its mandatory RM&G tasks, the East London NHS Foundation Trust has agreed to integrate our RM&G activities with those of one of the Trust’s Higher Education Institution partners, the Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, part of Queen Mary University of London (QMUL).

Beginning 1 August 2010, the Joint Research Office (JRO) of the Barts and the London NHS Trust (BLT) and Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry (SMD) took over the provision of governance and ethics advice, costing of projects, training of research staff, and the assessment of all proposals to undertake research projects in the East London NHS Foundation Trust.  The existing BLT/SMD Joint Research Office will undertake to provide the same services under the same terms and conditions in relation to ELFT as it currently provides to research undertaken in BLT and the SMD. 

There remain a number of strategic activities related to research which the JRO will not undertake and which will continue to be the responsibility of the Trust Research Directorate.  These include:

  • developing a Research Strategy specific to the Trust’s needs,
  • recommending how to allocate research-related funding,
  • linking the research expertise within the Trust to the organisation’s performance management and business development
  • addressing any research misconduct; and
  • promoting research in the Trust.

The Research Director is directly accountable to the Chief Executive Officer and the Trust Board. Within the Trust, the Research Directorate collaborates with other Directorates, e.g. the Directorate for Performance and Service Development, in a flexible way.

The Trust submits Annual Reports to the Department of Health on the research conducted locally and the outcomes / benefits and papers produced as a result of the research activity taking place here.

In addition the Research Directorate publishes a quarterly Research & Development Newsletter with news, upcoming events and lists of recent publications.

Finally, we have compiled a list of Frequently Asked Questions regarding the management of research which we hope will be helpful.