The National Research Ethics Service has a dual mission:
- to protect the rights, safety, dignity and well-being of research participants; and
- to facilitate and promote ethical research that is of potential benefit to participants, science and society.
We do this by:
- providing robust and responsive ethical review of research through the NRES Research Ethics Committees (RECs);
- providing ethical guidance to the NRES RECs;
- providing and delivering a managed structure to support NRES RECs;
- delivering a quality assurance (QA) framework;
- delivering a training programme;
- working with colleagues across the UK to maintain a UK-wide framework for ethical review;
- working with colleagues in the wider regulatory environment to streamline the processes for approving research;
- promoting and supporting transparency in research.
Relevant and appropriate research always aims to answer a new question and contribute to the current body of medical and scientific knowledge. For this reason, there is a certain amount of risk for research participants. Independent ethical review is vital to ensure that
participant safety is at the centre of the research.
You can find more information about our progress and plans for further improvement on the
Health Research Authority web site.
