Primarily we work with teams across BHP, but also support projects from outside the Partners, including other NHS Trusts and commercial companies. We welcome approaches from any interested parties to explore what support we may be able to provide.

We can support any project that is not a Clinical Trials of Investigational Medicinal Products (CTIMP) or any other study operating under the remit of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)v; requests for support for this type of project should be redirected to the relevant Clinical Trials Unit (BCTU or CRCTU).

We can support a wide range of research methodologies, from observational studies to surveys and screening studies. In some instances, we can also provide support for qualitative projects.

We also provide support for non-research projects, including audits, service evaluations and operational and/or management processes – for example, the UoB COVID Test and Trace system.

Where we are unable to help, we can signpost you to the appropriate team that may be in a position to provide the expertise that you require.

We aim to be as flexible as possible and work with you to identify what level of support is most appropriate for your needs. We can do as little as provide your team with access to REDCap, or as much as full management and delivery of your project. We are able to provide support in any of the following areas:

• Full project set up, management and close down
• Project development
• Development of the project documentation
• Submission of relevant permission requests (for example IRAS, R&D approvals)
• Site set up, support and closedown
• Ensuring compliance with all applicable regulation and guidelines at all stages
• Identification and obtaining of relevant required legal contracts and agreements
• Access to REDCap
• Development of REDCap project databases
• Data management, data cleaning and data archiving
• Project administration
• Statistical analysis

Support and/or training for your existing team, particularly with regard to REDCap database building

Our services are costed in a number of ways. Where we are fully managing a project and are included in the initial funding bid, costs are calculated in the usual way based on the estimate of staff and consumables required.

Where you require access to REDCap only, there are minimal annual charges for provision of access to the system which contribute to the costs of the servers and the IT support required to maintain them.

Where we provide expertise and support for any element of a project, we meet with you to discuss your requirements in detail and provide you with a quote based on the estimated number of hours and grade of staff required to deliver. For example, if you need a REDCap database built, we can estimate the number of hours we expect it to take and provide the cost accordingly.

Finally, we are able to operate on a consultancy basis. Where you have a fixed amount of funding to purchase support, we can translate that into a number of hours available to you which can be used to ‘buy’ the expertise you require. For example, we could use the hours to provide the expertise to support or train a member of your team to build your own database.

We use REDCap to build databases for the projects we support; BHP/ITM have a REDCap system that is installed and maintained by the University of Birmingham IT department.

REDCap is an online database system developed by Vanderbilt University that is specifically designed for clinical trials, but can be also be built to accommodate different methodologies. It is a user friendly and intuitive and works for a range of options. REDCap complies with the relevant regulation, although teams need to consider their process around their data access and management policies to ensure continued compliance. Research FIRST is able to support you with this.

If you prefer to develop your database using a different platform, please contact us and we will endeavour to identify another party to support you with this.

Please email researchfirst@contacts.bham.ac.uk providing some detail about the support you would be interested in, and a member of the Research FIRST team will be in contact with you to arrange further discussions.

“Research FIRST is the most effective and delivery focussed organisation that I have worked with. They have helped set up the new digital data infrastructure for the UK Coronavirus Cancer Monitoring Project within a period of weeks, and were pivotal to provide the evidence globally that cancer treatments could continue during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“They are characterised by a team of individuals who are focussed on the research and the questions that need answering, while still maintaining the highest level of service. My experience is that the team is very efficient, knowledgeable and responsive. Working with Research FIRST has been an extremely positive experience.”

Lennard Lee, UK Coronavirus Cancer Monitoring Project

“I cannot speak highly enough of the Research FIRST team – without them, the COV-AD study, a multi-site, national study into how immunodeficient patients respond to COVID-19 vaccines, simply would not have happened. Their expertise in the end-to-end management of a large clinical study, including navigating REC approval, facilitating data management, study finance and the understanding logistics and practicalities of moving large numbers of clinical samples between NHS and academic institutions ensured a complex study ran smoothly and greatly improved the quality of the data we have collected. Furthermore, they have been an absolute pleasure to work. I can not recommend their service highly enough.”

Dr Adrian Shields, Clinical Lecturer – Clinical Immunology Service