Research office

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The role of our research office

Locality authorisation

Meet our team

The role of our research office

Our research office supports people undertaking research at Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand, Te Tai Tokerau.

Our role is to facilitate research review and authorisation so that people conduct their research according to national standards and guidelines.

Contact our research team

For general enquiries feel free to email us

Locality authorisation

Our staff administer the local authorisation of research to be conducted with our services.

Standards, guidelines and processes

We provide guidance to researchers and develop policies and processes based on the National Ethical Standards for Health and Disability Research and Quality Improvement .

Health and disability ethics committee review

The team can help provides guidance on the ethical review requirements for health research projects but does not grant ethical approval.

Related information/resources

neac.health.govt.nz  National Ethical Standards for Health and Disability Research and Quality Improvement.

Locality authorisation

Locality authorisation

The term "locality authorisation" refers to the process used by the NZ Health and Disability Ethics Committees (HDECs) for ascertaining that all local governance issues have been addressed at sites participating in a research project.

All health research to be undertaken at Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand, Te Tai Tokeraua must have locality authorisation before the research is started. Applications should be submitted by the local study representative from our locality.

To obtain locality authorisation, researchers should consider undertaking:

Local consultation

Consult with your local Head of Department and Service Leaders to confirm that they support the proposed research being conducted within the relevant services and that they approve of the resource use and proposed budgets.

Māori consultation

Ethics review

The level of ethics review depends on the type of project to be undertaken. There are a few options for ethics review including HDEC or through an academic institution. The HRCs website provides a good overview of ethics requirements in New Zealand.

Applications for locality authorisation can be submitted online via the intranet for Hauora a Toi Bay of Plenty staff. Paper forms can be obtained from the research office for external researchers without a local study contact.

How to apply for locality authorisation