From Wednesday 10 November, non-commercial public health and social care studies that do not require HRA Approval will need to apply for CRN support via the Non-commercial Portfolio Application service in CPMS.
This new service offers researchers a number of benefits:
- Social care and public health researchers will be able to apply directly to the CRN for support, in the same way as clinical researchers can.
- It allows researchers to apply for CRN support as soon as they have secured their research funding, they do not need to wait until they have secured REC approval.
- Investigators will supply a tailored set of data that will enable eligibility to be assessed, with fewer queries raised, and study records to be populated automatically.
- Information supplied by study teams will be visible across the CRN, including LCRNs and the devolved administrations.
The existing email based application process which uses the CRN Application Form will remain open to studies that do not require HRA Approval until 31 December to allow in progress applications to be submitted to the Eligibility Function. After this date, the route will be closed to these studies and no further manual applications will be accepted.
In order to use the Non-commercial Portfolio Application service, social care and public health researchers must first make contact with their LCRN to discuss what support can be provided. Researchers can then apply by creating an account in CPMS.
Find out more
- Guidance material for the new application is available on NIHR Learn, including a training video, which has been adapted to support studies that do not require HRA Approval.
- An NIHR web page contains further information for researchers.
- An infographic is also available which outlines the purpose and benefits of the new service.