Identify a research sponsor

A sponsor is an individual, company, institution or organisation which takes overall responsibility for the study. This includes initiation and management, including financial management, of the study. This may be a university, an NHS organisation, a local authority or in the case of commercial research the company contracting the study.

A research sponsor is required for every research study in health and social care that involves NHS patients, any samples we may take from them and their information. A sponsor is also required for social care research involving practitioners, clients and resources.

The sponsor manages but does not conduct the study and can share or delegate some of their responsibilities by written agreement. They have a wide-ranging governance role to ensure the integrity of the research whilst protecting both the research participants and the researchers.

As a part of our good clinical practice (GCP) training course you can learn about the roles and responsibilities of the sponsor.