Submitting an application

Effective from 1 July 2025, we have implemented significant changes to our research approval process by introducing a new pathway for new research proposals, amendments and extension requests to ensure that we comply with these new national standards in research governance.

New projects will now be assessed via a pre-authorisation process at site-level, which may include review by the Research Governance Committee that is responsible for overseeing research at the participating site. Every St John of God Health Care hospital and service now has access to a Research Governance Committee.

Once the site has determined that the proposed project is feasible, authorisation will be provided to the researcher to submit an application for ethical review via St John of God Health Care Human Research Ethics Committee and, if required, the site will facilitate legal review by St John of God Health Care Legal.

Following confirmation of site, ethical and legal authorisation, the Group Research Office will complete an assurance review and provide recommendation to the Chief Medical Officer to grant institutional approval.

The research project may only commence once St John of God Health Care institutional approval is granted.

Processes for new and existing projects that are undertaken using external commercial sponsors are not anticipated to be impacted by these changes.

If you are considering undertaking a research project at any of our hospitals or services, you must first contact the respective site for advice PRIOR to commencing a new project, seeking funding, or making an ethics application. Please see below for individual site contact information.

St John of God Health Care Research Handbook and useful forms

Our Research Handbook includes all forms for submissions, the Human Research Ethics Committee’s terms of reference, meeting and submission dates, and a complete set of standard operating procedures.

This handbook is available to download for your reference but is under constant review. Please refer periodically to the website to ensure you have the most current version of the handbook.

Existing research projects

If you are submitting a protocol amendment, changes to Investigator or extension request for an existing project, please contact the respective site via the contact details below for advice PRIOR to submitting your request.

Need more information?

Please refer to the Research Handbook or send an enquiry to the relevant site research governance contact as outlined below.

Site research governance contacts