Governance
The Governance pillar turns research principles into repeatable practice through review gates, ethics, safeguarding, privacy, quality standards and escalation paths.
GOVERN 1.0.0
Governance operating model
How research governance is owned, scaled and made proportionate across the research lifecycle.
GOVERN 1.1.1
Governance is the operating system for responsible research
Research governance should turn ethical, legal, inclusion and quality principles into repeatable practice without removing accountable human judgement.
GOVERN 1.1.2
Name accountable governance roles
Every research practice must define who owns governance rules, who reviews studies, who approves exceptions and who can escalate unresolved risks.
GOVERN 1.1.3
Use proportionate review levels
Classify research as low, medium or high governance risk so routine work can move quickly and sensitive work receives specialist review.
GOVERN 1.1.4
Make governance usable
Governance reviewers must explain decisions in plain language, focus on material risk and help teams improve the work rather than only block it.
GOVERN 2.0.0
Study initiation and risk triage
How studies enter governance review and how risk is assessed before participant contact.
GOVERN 2.1.1
Complete governance triage before participant contact
A study must complete governance triage before recruitment, screening, participant outreach or fieldwork begins.
GOVERN 2.1.2
Record the method and participant risk rationale
The study record must explain why the method, participant group, setting, incentives, recording and data handling approach are proportionate to the research question.
GOVERN 2.1.3
Escalate uncertainty early
Where risk is unclear, escalate before the plan hardens. Early review should reduce rework and prevent pressure to accept avoidable risk later.
GOVERN 3.0.0
Ethics, consent and safeguarding
How teams protect participant agency, dignity, inclusion and safety.
GOVERN 3.1.1
Participant agency is a governance requirement
Participants should understand what they are being asked to do, how their information will be used, what choices they have and how to stop taking part.
GOVERN 3.1.2
Review high-risk ethics and safeguarding before approval
Research involving vulnerable participants, distressing topics, power imbalance, covert observation, minors, legal sensitivity or safeguarding concerns must receive specialist review before approval.
GOVERN 3.1.3
Do not trade participant welfare for delivery speed
People planning or approving research must not pressure teams to continue, recruit or publish where participant welfare risks are unresolved.
GOVERN 4.0.0
Privacy, data protection and evidence governance
How participant data and research evidence are protected from collection through retention and reuse.
GOVERN 4.1.1
Define data handling before collection
The study must document what participant data will be collected, where it will be stored, who can access it, how long it will be retained and how deletion or withdrawal will be handled.
GOVERN 4.1.2
Protect direct identifiers from unnecessary reuse
Direct identifiers must not be included in research notes, findings, repositories or sharebacks unless the study has an approved and recorded reason.
GOVERN 4.1.3
Use summaries when raw evidence is not needed
Where a team needs learning rather than raw data, prefer governed summaries, excerpts or decision records that preserve context without widening access to sensitive material.
GOVERN 5.0.0
Findings quality and decision assurance
How findings are checked before they influence decisions, policy, service design or delivery.
GOVERN 5.1.1
Review claims before findings are shared
Before findings are shared, claims must be checked against evidence, method limits, sample limits, consent constraints and the confidence the team can reasonably place in the work.
GOVERN 5.1.2
Recommendations must not outrun evidence
Research recommendations should be clearly separated from observations and should reflect the strength, relevance and limits of the evidence.
GOVERN 5.1.3
Ratify AI-assisted outputs before use
AI-assisted notes, summaries, tags or draft findings should be treated as working material until a researcher checks accuracy, context, consent limits and missing evidence.
GOVERN 6.0.0
Incidents, exceptions and escalation
How governance issues are recorded, contained, escalated and resolved.
GOVERN 6.1.1
Record incidents and exceptions in one place
Participant harm concerns, consent problems, privacy issues, data loss, protocol deviations and approved exceptions must be recorded in a governed register.
GOVERN 6.1.2
Escalate unresolved material risk
Material risks that cannot be resolved by the study team must be escalated to the named governance owner before the research proceeds or findings are used.
GOVERN 6.1.3
Create a no-blame route for raising concerns
People involved in research must be able to raise governance concerns without being treated as obstructive or disloyal to delivery.
GOVERN 7.0.0
Continuous governance and operating learning
How governance practice is reviewed, measured and improved over time.
GOVERN 7.1.1
Review governance patterns, not only individual studies
Governance reviews should look for repeated risks, unclear rules, slow approvals, recurring exceptions and parts of the operating model that need redesign.
GOVERN 7.1.2
Review sourcebook governance clauses on a fixed cycle
Governance clauses must have an owner and review cycle so rules remain current with law, organisational policy, technology, research practice and participant risk.
GOVERN 7.1.3
Good governance should increase trust and pace
A mature governance system should make safe research easier to run, help risky research get the right review and make the value of responsible practice visible.
Glossary
- Governance triage
- The first review that classifies a study by ethics, privacy, safeguarding, inclusion, method and operational risk.
- Material risk
- A risk that could affect participant welfare, legal compliance, evidence quality, organisational trust or a significant service decision.
- Exception
- A documented decision to depart from a rule, with owner, rationale, controls, expiry and review route.
- Findings assurance
- The checks that keep claims, limitations, participant protections and recommendations aligned before findings are used.
Change history
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2026-07-02
Expanded GOVERN into an end-to-end governance lifecycle covering operating model, triage, ethics, safeguarding, privacy, findings assurance, incidents, exceptions and continuous improvement.