Before you apply for research governance make sure you’ve applied for ethics approval.

To apply for research governance, you’ll need to submit a site-specific assessment (SSA). You can start the SSA form while waiting for ethics approval, but you shouldn't submit it until you have ethics approval.

Depending on the type of research, you may need to get other approvals required by legislation or policy. You'd usually get these approvals after your research project has received ethics approval.

Examples of other approvals are:

Applying for governance authorisation

There are 2 steps you need to follow when you're applying for research governance.

Step 1 – prepare your supporting documents

You'll need to submit supporting documents with your application. It's a good idea to get started on these as soon as possible so you have plenty of time to submit your application.

Step 2 – apply for research governance

To apply, you must use the Ethical Review Manager (ERM). It’s an online platform that lets you manage the forms and documents for your project.

Learn more about how to use the ERM.

After you submit

After you submit your application, a research governance officer will assess your application and submit it to our research governance committee.

The committee will decide if your research is suitable. If it is, they'll recommend it's approved by the delegate.

Our research governance officer may contact you if they need more information or documents.

You'll get an authorisation letter by email when your governance approval is granted.

You’ll then need to do the following:

  • submit an Annual Report through the ERM each year.
  • complete the Final Report form within 3 months of completing your study.
  • inform RGO of any deviation to the initial protocol including amendments to the ethics approvals as appropriate.

Contact us

If you have any questions, you can contact our Research Governance Officer, Nadish Kariyawasam by:

Last updated: November 2023

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