The project also has two independent oversight committees whose members have been approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
The Study Steering Committee (SSC) has 10 members and is chaired by Prof Roger Ingham from University of Southampton.
Members of the SSC include:
- Roger Ingham, Professor of Health and Community Psychology and Director of the Centre for Sexual Health Research, University of Southampton
- Dr Cath White, Clinical Director, St.Marys SARC, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
- Etty Martin, Sexual Health Commissioning Manager, Public Health Warwickshire
- Charlotte Triggs OBE, Independent Justice Adviser and former rape prosecutor and CPS Senior Policy Advisor
- Fern Terris-Prestholt, Associate Professor in the Economics of HIV, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
- Gillian Finch, MESARCH Lived Experience Group representative and Founder for CIS’ters charity
- Sam Thompson, MESARCH Lived Experience Group representative and ambassador of Survivors Manchester
- Elizabeth Howarth, Health Researcher
- Amanda Naylor, Chief Executive, Manchester Youth Zone
- Parveen Ali, Professor, Division of Nursing and Midwifery, Health Sciences School, University of Sheffield
The SSC provides guidance to the co-investigators and project team and exercises oversight for the project on behalf of the funder to ensure that the range of sub-studies are conducted to the rigorous standards set out in the Department of Health and Social Care’s Research Governance Framework for Health and Social Care and the Guidelines for Good Clinical Practice.
The Data Monitoring and Ethics Committee is chaired by Prof Anne Spencer from the University of Exeter. Dr Millie Parsons, a senior research fellow at the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, provides statistics expertise. The safety, rights and well-being of the study participants are paramount and the role of the DMEC is to monitor data arising from the study and make recommendations to the SSC on whether there are any ethical or safety reasons as to why the project/sub-studies should not continue.
