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  1. Research roles - meet our staff
  2. Clinical Research Practitioner (CRP) apprenticeship
  3. Principal Investigator Pipeline Programme (PIPP)
  4. NIHR Associate Principal Investigator (API) Scheme

Work with us

An icon showing hands linked togetherIf you’re a healthcare professional and are interested in research, we can support you!

We can help you to deliver clinical procedures, treatment administration, data collection, laboratory processing and study management. 

To make sure you have the support you need to conduct your research and develop new treatments, we work closely with the following support services, institutes and national centres:

  • Pathology.
  • Radiology.
  • Imaging, including three CT scanners, four MRI scanners, nuclear medicine and radio pharmacy.
  • Clinical trials pharmacy.
  • Insights and Evaluations team.
  • Innovation team.
  • Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) Clinical Trials Unit (CTU).
  • The InSites and clinical entrepreneur programme with ARU.
  • Essex Cancer Centre with LINAC.
  • St Andrews Burns and Plastics (StAAR).
  • Essex Cardiothoracic Centre (CTC).

Get in touch

For general research questions, email  mse.researchenquiries@nhs.net.

Good Clinical Practice (GCP) training

GCP is the international standard for conducting clinical research and is required by all staff working on clinical research conducting research activities. 

It's also known as ICH GCP - The International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH) Guideline for Good Clinical Practice (GCP).

As a certified GCP researcher, you will:

protect the rights and safety of people taking part in research studies
collect reliable research data

Courses are CPD accredited and require refresher training every 2-3 years. 

If you need GCP training or need to revalidate GCP, contact:

For more information, visit https://www.nihr.ac.uk/career-development/clinical-research-courses-and-support/good-clinical-practice. 

Last published

Do you have a project you want to work with us on?

So, you have an idea for a research project. Great!

The very first thing you need to establish - is it research?

On the surface, it seems very simple, but there is a particular grey area between service evaluation and research:

  • Research - the primary aim is to derive new knowledge that can be generalised to a majority of people or cases.
  • Evaluation - the aim of audit and service evaluation projects is to measure standards of care/measure of a recent change to practice, collating thoughts and ideas on improvement.

There is a decision tool and supporting documentation provided by the Health Research Authority (HRA) that can help you to identify your project classification. To use this, visit https://www.hra-decisiontools.org.uk/research.  

Once you have determined what category it fits in, contact us.

My project is research

  • Asks questions to find out new knowledge.
  • Is ‘generalizable’.
  • Involves collecting data that is additional to routine care.
  • May involve randomisation.

If your project is classified as research, email our research quality facilitator Georgina.beetar@nhs.net who can support you through the next steps.

My project is an audit or evaluation

Clinical audit

  • Measures against a standard.
  • Does this service reach a predetermine?

Service evaluation

  • Designed and conducted solely to define or judge current care.
  • Asks the question: What standard does this service achieve?
  • Not designed to be ‘generalisable’.

If considered an audit or service evaluation, it will not need REC approval, but ethical considerations still need to be made and consent sought.

If your project falls under this, email our Clinical Effectiveness team at mse.clinicaleffectivenessunit@nhs.net.  

Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap)

The RED Cap logo: The words 'REDCap' with a red baseball cap on itWe offer REDCap support to any our sponsored studies. 

REDCap is a mature, secure web application for building and managing online surveys and databases. It’s specifically geared to support data capture for research studies.

To see REDCap in action and an overview of its features, visit https://redcap.mse.nhs.uk/index.php?action=training. 

To find out more and to use this tool, visit https://redcap.mse.nhs.uk.