Research Secretariat

Welcome to Research at Women's and Children's Health Network (WCHN). Our world-class researchers are searching to develop new treatments and diagnostic methods for a variety of diseases and better health for our community.

We collaborate with many other research organisations in Australia and overseas to enhance our research efforts. Research is supported by internal and external funding from a variety of sources.

In particular, the Women's & Children's Hospital Foundation (WCHF) is a key supporter of research at WCHN. Established in 1989, the WCHF is a not-for-profit organisation governed by a Board of Directors and incorporated under the Associations Incorporations Act 1985.

The WCHF is the charity for the benefit of the Women's and Children's Hospital. It works in partnership with the South Australian community to support the Hospital and achieve positive long-term outcomes for women, babies and children. The Foundation's vision is to advance the health and wellbeing of women and children through an ongoing commitment to providing excellence in medical and health care and funding ground-breaking research.

Without research new treatments, cures and interventions will not be possible.

With the new National Clinical Trials Governance Framework, all Research and Clinical Trials groups will now need to ensure that they adhere to the framework. The Research Secretariat are planning to hold sessions around this in the next couple of months to ensure all Research and Clinical Trials groups are ready for the accreditation process.

For further information around the accreditation process for the National Clinical Trials Governance Framework, please review their accreditation factsheet.

The Research Secretariat will provide updates on the timing of these sessions as they become available. In the meantime, it would be great if you could review the documentation that is available in the above links. Most of the work is being done by the Research Secretariat and we will be in contact with areas as required.

We are excited to advise that the SA clinical trials portal was recently made public and provides information on conducting clinical trials in South Australia, including information for researchers, sponsors and participants. The portal outlines key initiatives, how consumers can be involved, and also additional information on the Teletrials Program.

The portal contains a number of resources and external links for researchers including:

• Information for researchers regarding standard operating procedures and requirements for clinical trials conducted in SA
• Clinical trial agreements
• Research ethics
• Research governance
• Research GEMS
• Training resources including links to the free training for all South Australians through the Victorian Clinical Trials Education Centre.

The Research Secretariat provides administrative support to the Women's and Children's Health Network (WCHN) research effort by:

• co-ordinating the following research-related committees:
  • the Human Research Ethics Committee's (HREC)
  • the Drug and Therapeutic Committee Clinical Trials Group (DTCCTG)
• administration of research grants
• providing information about external funding opportunities for research
• providing reports on research activity within the WCHN to the Executive.

Hours

General Business: Monday–Friday 8.30am–5.00pm

Location

• Level 2, Zone E/Samuel Way Building, Women’s and Children’s Hospital (WCH) Campus

Phone

• (08) 8161 8175 – matters related to grants
• (08) 8161 6521 – matters related to the Human Research Ethics Committee's (HREC)
• (08) 8161 6688 – matters related to Research Governance
• (08) 8161 6390 – matters related to the Drug and Therapeutic Committee Clinical Trials Group (DTCCTG)

Email

HealthWCHNResearch@sa.gov.au