The Integrated Research Application System (IRAS) is a single system for applying for Health Research Authority (HRA) permissions and approvals for health and social care or community care research in the UK. IRAS enables you to enter information about your project once instead of duplicating information in separate application forms and uses filters to ensure that the data collected and collated is appropriate to the type of study, and consequently the permissions and approvals required.
If you are unsure whether you should complete and IRAS form, please check with your supervisor in the first instance and then your Department Ethics Lead (DEL) or the Research Ethics and Integrity Manager. This presentation on HRA and NHS REC applications is very informative.
Before submitting to the IRAS system, please follow Northumbria University's Internal Approval Process for IRAS submissions, which you can access here, and complete Northumbria's IRAS Internal Approval form which you can download here.
Once internally approved, complete your submission to the NHS IRAS system, which you can access here.
New IRAS users can find further guidance here.
To determine if your study needs NHS REC review, please use the HRA Decision Tool, here.
