Research governance

The purpose of our Research Governance Policy is to outline the Nuffield Trust’s obligations and the requirements of both staff and contracted researchers in research governance.

The Nuffield Trust wishes to commission and undertake high quality research in a way that fosters excellence, effective leadership, openness, accountability and honesty.

The Nuffield Trust has a clear responsibility to develop a culture among staff and with contracted researchers in which attention to governance and ethics in research becomes accepted practice.

For the purpose of this policy, research includes:

• original investigation undertaken in order to gain knowledge and understanding;
• the development and interpretation of existing knowledge for specific applications or within a professional setting (for example, within a health care setting), including audit and audit-type studies, and service evaluation.

The Research Governance Policy applies to research carried out, funded, commissioned or published by or on behalf of the Nuffield Trust. 

NHS digital audit of Nuffield Trust data sharing activities

The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), now NHS Digital, conducted a data sharing audit of the Nuffield Trust on 14th and 15th July 2015. The audit is a check against the requirements of the Data Sharing Agreement (DSA) between HSCIC and the Nuffield Trust. This DSA governs the way that Nuffield Trust can use, share, store and eventually destroy any data that is supplied by HSCIC. The audit was successfully completed, and the formal report is available to read from the HSCIC website. See also our Information security and data statement.