The Research Accreditation Panel provides oversight of the framework that is used to accredit research projects, researchers and processing environments under the Digital Economy Act 2017 (DEA) and the Approved Researcher gateway in the Statistics and Registration Services Act 2007 (SRSA). The research framework is underpinned by the Research Code of Practice and Accreditation Criteria, which was approved by the UK Parliament in July 2018.
The role of the Research Accreditation Panel is to ensure that the process for granting access to de-identified data to accredited researchers is independent, consistent, and transparent. The RAP assess each project against the following criteria:
i. Is there public benefit?
ii. Is there demonstrable analytical merit?
iii. Is the project feasible?
iv. Are any relevant privacy implications sufficiently mitigated?
v. Has the project successfully completed a formal ethical review?
The Research Accreditation Panel will also have oversight of the established framework and standards used to accredit processing environments under the Research power in the Digital Economy Act, as well as the framework and standards to both approve and accredit researchers under the Statistics and Registration Services Act and the Digital Economy Act, respectively. This involves having oversight of the training of researchers, which researchers must complete to become Accredited Researchers, and the security standards, policies and procedures that processors have to comply with to become Accredited Processors.
Submitting a research project to the Research Accreditation Panel
Research project applications are submitted to the Research Accreditation Panel inbox by accredited data processing environments on a continuous basis. Researchers are advised to liaise with support teams in their chosen accredited data processing environment to understand the requirements and timelines involved with submitting a research project to the Research Accreditation Panel. Research project applications that require consideration by the RAP will be considered via correspondence on a weekly basis.
Research Accreditation Panel Meeting Dates
- 25 March 2024
- 28 June 2024
- 20 September 2024
- 13 December 2024
Key Links
Accessing Data via the Research Accreditation Framework
List of Digital Economy Act Accredited Processing Environments