Department for Health and Wellbeing research governance

When is a DHW site specific assessment required?

A Department for Health and Wellbeing (DHW) site specific assessment (SSA) application is required for each research project that involves DHW staff, resources and/or data.

The department is responsible for managing many statewide data sets. Researchers who are requesting access to these data sets for research purposes must receive SSA authorisation before commencing their project.

A data custodian is responsible for each data set, and approval from the data custodian must be sought as part of the SSA application via Research GEMS online. For more information about data custodians, please contact the DHW research office.

Submitting the SSA to the DHW research office

Before beginning the SSA application, review the DHW SSA application process flowchart (PDF 305KB)  for summary steps and tips to better understand the application process.

All SSA applications must be submitted via Research GEMS online. Refer to the Research GEMS user guides for assistance.

SSA submission documents

The DHW Research Office require the following documents to be uploaded with the SSA application:

  • confirmation of ethics approval from a SA Health HREC or certified National Mutual Acceptance (NMA) HREC
  • the HREC approved study protocol or human research ethics application (HREA) form
  • participant Information sheet and consent form (if applicable)
  • CV for the site Principal Investigator (PI)
  • current certificates of insurance (professional indemnity and public liability) when the PI is not undertaking the research in their duties as a SA Health employee or are employed by an external organisation.

Update on Population Data Registers Data Custodianship

Effective 27 July 2026, Preventive Health SA will no longer serve as the data custodian for the Population Data Registers. This includes the South Australian Cancer Register, the Pregnancy Outcome Unit registers, and the SA Trauma Registry. The new data custodian will be the Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health. The CEIH can be contacted at ceih@sa.gov.au.

Considering this forthcoming change in data custodianship, as of 5 Jun 2026 Preventive Health SA will no longer consider new research requests related to the Population Data Registers. Existing applications will continue to be managed. Further information regarding access to these datasets will be provided on 27 July 2026. Please contact the DHW research office for any questions.

DHW data assets

The table below identifies DHW's most commonly accessed data assets, their data custodians and contact details. When requesting access to these data assets for research purposes, please contact the data custodians during the planning phase to assess if the project is feasible.

The data custodian and data asset name are also required in the Research GEMS SSA application. Please ensure the data custodian is listed as the ‘Head of Department (HOD)’ at part C.

Data asset
Data asset Data Custodian Contact details
SA Health public hospital emergency department
 Data, Analytics and Insights HOD: Susan Schultz Email:
Health.DataAnalyticsAndInsights@sa.gov.au
SA Health public hospital admitted patient care Data, Analytics and Insights HOD: Susan Schultz Email:
Health.DataAnalyticsAndInsights@sa.gov.au
National notifiable diseases surveillance system (NNDSS) Communicable Disease Control Branch HOD: Noel Lally Email: HealthCommunicableDiseases@sa.gov.au

Contact

For further information relating to the DHW research office, contact:

DHW Research Governance Officer
Office for Research
Telephone: (08) 7117 6635
Email: HealthResearchGovernance@sa.gov.au