Start a research project

Research user guide

Our user guide has information about getting approval for research projects involving patients, staff or resources from Queensland Health.

Types of research

Health and medical research plays a vital role in delivering better treatments and interventions. It improves how we deliver our health services and clinical and population health results.

Find out what the differences are between each type of research.

What is clinical research?

We use clinical research to find out if medications, devices, diagnostic products and treatments are safe and effective. This is done through clinical trials or using data sources such as from allied health interventions, biospecimen research, genetic analysis, patient registries or psycho-oncology.

What is a clinical trial?

A clinical trial is a type of clinical research where treatments are given to people. It's an experiment designed to answer specific questions about possible new treatments or new ways of using existing treatments. We do clinical trials to find out whether new drugs or treatments are safe and effective.

Clinical trial can include:

• experimental drugs
• cells and other biological products
• vaccines
• medical devices
• surgical and other medical treatments and procedures
• psychotherapeutic and behavioural therapies
• health service changes
• preventive care strategies
• educational interventions.

Australia has its own regulatory requirements for clinical trials. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is responsible for administering the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989.

What is health research?

Health research helps to improve health care practices, fight disease and improve the quality and longevity of life.

We need patient information to help us increase our understanding of diseases, their treatments and side effects.

A large part of health research is information based. It's analysing data and biological samples that were initially collected for diagnostic or treatment purposes. They may have also been collected as part of other research projects and are now being used for new research.

What is data linkage research?

Data linkage is using information from different data sources.

Find the right hospital for your research

Use the Queensland Clinical Trials Portal to search for a hospital or facility that might be suitable for your research.

How to start your research

There are a few steps you need to follow when you start a research project.

Step 1. Find the right Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC)

Find out which HREC is best for your project. It will depend on what type of research you're doing and where.

We have 11 HRECs including the Forensic and Scientific Services Human Ethics Committee.

If your research involves more than one site, it may be useful to use a HREC that participates in the National Mutual Acceptance (NMA) scheme. It allows all research taking place over multiple sites in Australia to have a single ethical review.

Read more about National Mutual Acceptance - clinical trials and research on the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) website.

This means researchers only need to submit an ethics application to one HREC instead of multiple HRECs.

Read more about the National Certification Scheme on the NHMRC website.

If your research can be reviewed by more than one committee, find the application date that lines up with when you want to submit your application.

Step 2. Apply for HREC approval and governance authorisation

All our research projects have an ethics approval and governance authorisation process. You can apply for both of these at the same time.

HREC approval

There are guidelines and standards you must meet to make sure your research is ethically sound.

Read Applying for ethics approval where you can follow each step of the process to make sure you've filled in your application correctly. You'll also have to make sure you have the correct supporting documents.

Governance authorisation

To get governance authorisation, you'll need to submit a site-specific assessment (SSA) application for each site involved in your project.

Read Applying for governance authorisation to find out what you need to include in your application and what happens after you apply.

Other considerations

Make sure you also check to see if:

• your research involves multiple sites
• if your research is suitable for a teletrial
• you need to apply for confidential information
• your research is for non-clinical trials
• your research involves patients who are unable to give their consent.