Research complaints
Complaints may be made about the conduct of authorised research activities by participants, researchers, staff or others.
Complaints may be related to any of the following:
- breaches of privacy/confidentiality
- misappropriation, falsifying data, dubious authorship, plagiarism or misrepresentation
- careless or inappropriate collection, analysis, use or disclosure of information
- conflicts of interest
- coercion or failure to appropriately obtain participant consent
- departures from good research practice
- other
There are a number of ways a complaint may be communicated to the Research Office.
An Informal Complaint is a verbal expression of dissatisfaction that can be dealt with promptly and to the complainant’s satisfaction at the time the complaint is made. Informal incidents do not need to be reported.
A Formal Complaint includes all written complaints and any verbal reports or complaints that cannot be dealt with as informal incidents. Formal incidents are recorded by the Research Office on behalf of the Human Research Ethics Committee or Research Governance Officer and are managed according to the procedure outlined by St Vincent’s Hospital and NSW Health Polices and Guidelines (GL2010_014, GL2010_015 and PD2020_013)
When a complaint is received by the Research Office, it is directed to the Research Office Manager In order to allow the Office to respond to complaints, we ask that complainants leave their name and contact details. This information is treated confidentially.
Complaints will be responded to within 24 hours during weekdays. The complainant will be notified of the outcome of the investigation relating to their complaint.
Formal complaints can be directed to the Research Office in writing, via email or phone, either in person or through a representative:
Research Office
St Vincent’s Hospital Translational Research Centre
97-105 Boundary Street
Darlinghurst NSW 2010
Tel: 02 8382 4960
E-mail: SVHS.Research@svha.org.au