Research being undertaken by, or within, any of the Liverpool Health Partners may require sponsorship. In the context of clinical research, a Sponsor is the organisation that takes legal responsibility for the overall conduct of the research. Where the research is non-clinical and undertaken by one of our HEI partners, sponsorship may still be required.
Each Partner undertaking the role and responsibility of the Sponsor will continue to be the party which is legally responsible. Liverpool SPARK will facilitate the sponsorship application process.
For clinical research that involves NHS staff, patients or their data, Sponsorship will be required. In order to determine whether your proposal is research you can use the HRA research decision Tool here
If your project is defined as research then you should also check if NHS REC approval is required by referring to the decision tool here.
Where the research is non-clinical or to be undertaken at international sites, Sponsorship may still be required and determined by the policy of the LHP Partner.
Within LHP, the Sponsor of research will, in most instances, be the substantive employer of the proposed Chief Investigator (CI) of the research.
Investigators must gain prior approval from the Governance Team before designating their employer as Sponsor.
If your application requires an ‘in principle’ letter as part of a grant application, please contact enquiries@lhpspark.nhs.uk
If the substantive employer of the CI is:
Please download and complete the JRS Sponsorship Application Form v12
Click on the button below to download and complete the JRS Sponsorship Application Form v12
Download the FormIn addition an application should generally include the following documents/information;
At grant application stage, as a minimum, we would ask for a completed sponsorship application form and draft protocol. The sponsor may however request additional documentation as per their sponsor’s requirements and these may include the above.
Once your application is received, it will be reviewed and assessed prior to being included for review by the LHP Partners R&D office or the SPARK Sponsorship Committee.