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Scientific Support Unit

Overview

The Scientific Support Unit provides scientific consultation, counseling and collaboration services of methodological, epidemiological, statistic, informatic and academic nature to the researchers of the i+12 Institute.

The main responsibilities of the Scientific Support Unit are:

  • Providing scientific support and methodological, epidemiological, biostatistic and IT assistance for the conduct of research, scientific production and clinical practice activities (Official Spanish Gazette B.O.E. 18/05/91).
  • Coordinating, supporting and providing scientific counseling for the management, adaptation and improvement of research projects of official national and international public calls.
  • Conducting research work in the field of Health Sciences. Developing procedures and methods that delve into and open possibilities for research support and assistance. Developing and further examining specific matters. To this end, the Unit coordinates with other centers, units and various national and international cooperative research entities, such as the Spanish Cooperative Health Research Thematic Networks (RETIC), the Biomedical Research Networking Centres (CIBER), the Spanish Clinical Research Network (SCReN), relevant agencies and other international entities.
  • Cooperating, training and providing internal and external counseling to organizations such as the Carlos III Health Center; the General Directorate for Health Research, Training and Infrastructures belonging to the Health Council of the Autonomous Region of Madrid; the Spanish Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality (Advisory Board of the Spanish Ministry); and several Universities, particularly the Complutense University of Madrid.

 

The i+12 Scientific Support Unit belongs to the SCReN platform, which is financed by the Carlos III Health Institute.

 

Service portfolio

The services offered by the Scientific Support Unit can be classified into two modalities:

Queries

Request for technical or scientific information, counseling and opinion. These correspond to the queries for which software, statistical or IT applications are not needed. They constitute isolated queries that are resolved during a single consultation. It is advisable that the researchers submit their query after having personally reviewed the subject or situation at issue themselves by previously consulting basic scientific, legislative and technical documentation.

Consultancy

Requesting the resolution of problems or processes relating to the scientific field and that require qualified dedication, human resources, materials and time. To this end, the Unit designs a work calendar describing consecutive scheduled appointments grouped by objectives, tasks and results, including a start and end date. All consultancies have a price.

To provide this service, the Scientific Support Unit will study the problem using the means that it deems appropriate based on the objectives, hypotheses or processes proposed by the researcher. Upon completion of this task, all results will be submitted to the researchers in a document, together with the work files used for the analysis.

The delivery time of these results varies according to the complexity of the study, the availability of staff at the Unit, and the volume of work for which the counseling was requested. We advise that the counseling service be requested in advance to the use or end of your objectives.

In some specific cases, if required so by the nature of the task to be done, a global budget for the project may be prepared, without specifying an hourly rate. This project will depend on the delivery time, the materials needed, the level of involvement of the Scientific Support Unit and the organization to which the applicant belongs. The preparation of this budget will not entail any expenses for the user, except in the case of large projects requiring prior analysis.

 

Operating rules

The rules that govern the correct operation of the Scientific Support Unit are as follows:

  1. The researchers shall personally arrange an appointment by email soportecientifico.imas12@h12o.es, including their name, position, Service or Unit, Title explaining the reason of the request, a contact email, and a cell phone number. The researchers will then be assigned a manager, a day, and a time, based on the availability of the Scientific Support Unit.
  2. Punctuality and fulfilment of the calendar designed by the parties involved.
  3. The researcher must provide the available data, if any, in a computerized format, either in a database or application, or in the original standard software formats.
  4. Under no circumstances may the databases contain personal information of the study subjects, such as their name, telephone numbers, identity card number or any other information that might identify them. These variables must be removed or replaced by other non-identifying data.
  5. The data supplied by the researcher must be adequately coded and sanitized. Otherwise, the database might be returned to the researcher for correction, who must schedule a new meeting with the Scientific Support Unit once these issues have been amended.
  6. The researcher is responsible for both the quality and the veracity of the data submitted to the Scientific Support Unit.
  7. The Unit will ensure and guarantee the confidentiality of the data and their exclusive use for achieving the study objectives proposed by the researcher.
  8. The Scientific Support Unit will not be held responsible for any methodological and/or design errors made by the researchers, or for any errors that might have affected the database creation.
  9. The Scientific Support Unit will not be held responsible for the researcher’s use or implementation of the results provided by the Unit.

 

Staff and contact information

Dr. Agustín Gómez de la Cámara is the principal investigator of the Scientific Support Unit (Clinical Research Unit).

 

foto2 Soporte cientifico