All research involved in health and social care requires a sponsor. A sponsor is an organisation or partnership that takes overall responsibility for a research study. The role of a sponsor is to ensure that arrangements are in place to:
- Ensure that a study has received all appropriate regulatory approvals
- Support the set-up of the study
- Oversee the day-to-day running of the study
- Ensure the findings are reported and the study is closed.
A sponsor will delegate these roles and responsibilities to members of a research team or organisation depending on the study requirements. A research project requires sponsorship in order to be conducted within NHS services.
Noclor can provide sponsorship support and assistance for clinicians or members of staff who have a contractual relationship with one of our partner organisations.
The following sections on the page should provide you with more detail if this is your first-time requesting sponsorship support. You can contact the sponsorship team if you need any assistance in completing the form or have any general queries.
You are eligible for sponsorship support if you are a clinician or a member of staff that works within one of our partner organisations. The Chief investigator of the research project must have a contractual relationship with one of the partner organisations.
If you are in higher education and conducting a research project as part of your studies. It is important that you contact the team before starting the form as it might not be suitable for sponsorship.
Noclor will not consider any applications where the project has not been classified as research. This is outlined by the UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research.
Please complete the HRA decision tool to determine if your project is research.
You can request support from the sponsorship team by completing a sponsorship request form online. You will first need to register an account with Noclor to access the request form.
The request form asks a series of questions to learn more about your proposed project and help determine if it is suitable for the sponsorship team. The form can be saved which means you can complete it in your own time.
The sponsorship team cannot process any requests that have been made solely over the telephone or by request for sponsorship declaration through IRAS.
The decision on whether a Noclor partner is willing to sponsor a research study will be made on a case-by-case basis following a review of a valid sponsorship request.
A successful sponsorship request means that a Noclor partner organisation can be named as the sponsor on applications being made through IRAS (Integrated Research Application System) to the Research Ethics Committee, NHS R&D and Regulatory Authorities as relevant.
The sponsorship team will notify the Chief Investigator by email on behalf of the partner organisation to inform if a sponsorship request has been successful. The email will provide further information about any conditions that must be met by the study team.
A successful sponsorship request also means that a research project will have an identified sponsor representative. A Sponsor Representative is a person authorised by the sponsor organisation to act on the sponsor’s behalf. Noclor has sponsor representatives that have delegated authority from its partner organisations.
You can contact the sponsorship team at sponsor.noclor@nhs.net