Since Infonetica''s successful delivery of IRAS (Integrated Research Application System) to its customers, the consultation-in-use phase has now finished at the end of June and received very positive feedback. This first phase of the system’s introduction has been deemed to be successful by the numerous organisations involved in this collaborative project.Launched on 29 January 2008, IRAS is the new central system that collates all information researchers need for various regulatory bodies’ permissions and approvals to conduct health and social care research in the UK. Researchers had previously been critical of the time consuming and frustrating process involved in completing many separate applications.

Researchers using IRAS to submit their applications to the various regulatory bodies were encouraged to give feedback on their experiences with the system. Many suggestions were received and either have been, or will be, incorporated into the system.

“We are delighted with the response from the research community,” says Dr Janet Wisely, Director of the National Research Ethics Service (NRES), the organisation tasked with developing the system for the collaborative project. “The amount of feedback received from researchers was considerable and, more importantly, it was exceptionally positive. IRAS is proving to be the time-saving application system researchers were looking for.” This positive feedback provides reassurance to researchers that IRAS is a robust and effective system that they can use with confidence.

Dr Wisely commented that the uptake of IRAS was also pleasing. “Already 31% of applications for research ethics approval have been submitted via IRAS. Other regulatory organisations involved in IRAS are also reporting good usage.” Further improvements and functionality are being added to IRAS on an ongoing basis. This includes the remaining data fields for full European Clinical Trials Database (EudraCT) functionality. Stage 1 of the EudraCT import export functionality to IRAS for applications to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is working well and was welcomed by researchers when it was added to IRAS in early May.

IRAS is not yet mandatory, however researchers are strongly urged to begin new applications on IRAS to take advantage of the increased functionality and benefits of the integration the system offers. As data cannot be transferred from the old ethics online application form to IRAS, and as IRAS will be the entry point to systems including the National Institute for Health Research Coordinated System for Gaining NHS Permission (NIHR CSP) in England, researchers and research managers are strongly encouraged to familiarise themselves with the system and start using IRAS now. IRAS will fully replace existing systems in due course.