The Office for Research oversees all aspects of research at the Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH), with the major component of work arising from the operation of the HREC and the governance of research projects undertaken at or by the RMH.
The fees charged represent only partial recovery of the total cost of providing ethical and governance oversight.
Fees have been set based on the total (human and other) resources required to review a new research project on submission and then to monitor and manage it over its lifetime.
The fee structure is competitive and reflects actual resource allocation to the process of scientific and ethical review.
Fee for commercially sponsored studies
The Office for Research at the Royal Melbourne Hospital has recently updated the method of payment for submission fees.
All fees will now be via RMH invoice or internal journal transfer.
Fees for non commercial studies
RMH Research Office fees FAQs
Following an extensive consultation and benchmarking exercise throughout 2023, the Office for Research has introduced a modular structure for submissions. This new structure better reflects the type of submission, aligns with the requirements of the National Clinical Trials Governance Framework (NCTGF) and allows the Office for Research to provide an overall best practice service to our sector.
While the Office for Research conducted extensive validation through months of submission intakes to the Office, we understand this change will generate additional queries from our sector as the new fee structure is rolled out.
The Office for Research operate on a cost recovery basis.
Clinical research is complex. Our team aim to process applications as soon as possible to the standards expected by our sector. The complexity of studies submitted was not evidenced at the application entry stage. This effected reviewer allocation, level of experience required by our team members for the myriad of submissions received and time to approvals. The Office received a multitude of feedback, which we took into account as part of the restructure of both the Office and fees.
In order to provide high quality, streamlined services to our sector in accordance with our regulatory obligations, the Office was restructured, processes reviewed and metrics consistent with our regulatory obligations implemented as part of accreditation to the NCTGF. Extensive validation over many months in the context of the various submissions received was conducted. The result was to more closely align cost recovery with improved service delivery.
A modular fee structure assists the Office to immediately determine the complexity of a submission and the time required to review at the submission stage. This correlates with the amount of work required to process and approve the application.
Yes. All amendments require time to process and approve.
Changes to personnel are charged only when there is a change to Principal Investigator or Coordinating Principal Investigator. This is in addition to the base amendment rate. Changes to other personnel are covered by the base rate fee.
Bundles are calculated on a per approved document basis. In the above example, you are seeking approval for 3 PICFs therefore you are submitting 1 bundle.
Examples of non-standard sites include:
- Some registry sites
- Satellite
- Decentralised trials
- Referral sites
Contact the Office for Research if unsure for your study
Level 2 South West
300 Grattan St, Parkville, Victoria