EDGE Clinical

EDGE is a cloud-based clinical research management system developed by the Clinical Informatics Research Unit (CIRU) at the University of Southampton, United Kingdom. The system is designed to help research professionals track and manage studies from start to finish, maintain oversight of participant recruitment, and access real-time data. EDGE serves a broad range of users including Trial Coordinators, Governance Managers, Research Nurses, Pharmacists, Principal Investigators, Chief Investigators, Data Managers, Clinical Trial Assistants, Pharmacists, and Research Governance Officers, across settings ranging from acute and community hospitals to research networks, universities, clinical trials units, charities, and GP practices.

EDGE is embedded across more than 90% of England's NHS regions and is also used prominently in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Internationally, the system is deployed in Canada, New Zealand, Belgium, South Africa, and other countries. More than 38,000 active users manage research studies within the platform, and over 11 million participants are being managed within the system. EDGE has received recognition through several awards, including the Scope Summit for Clinical Ops Executives, the European Innovation award, and the ACDM (Association for Clinical Data Management) Team Excellence award.

Core Capabilities

• End-to-end study tracking and management, from study initiation through to completion
• Real-time participant recruitment oversight and control
• Collaborative features that promote data sharing and reduce duplication of effort across teams and departments
• Finance management functionality to support commercial research trial cost recovery and income reporting
• Flexible data management tools that can integrate information from multiple departments, including service departments such as imaging
• Reporting functionalities providing at-a-glance views of study status and recruitment activity

Programme Objectives

• Improve the quality of research management across organisations
• Facilitate and promote a collaborative research environment
• Maintain a high standard of application development and support
• Create informatics solutions that accelerate the pipeline of clinical research

Security and Compliance

• EDGE holds ISO 27001 certification, reflecting a commitment to data security standards
• The system operates as a cloud-based platform with a focus on providing a safe and secure environment for research data

Support and Community

• EDGE provides an in-system KnowledgeBase containing detailed articles and resources covering all system functions
• Support is structured through Lead Administrators at each organisation, regional support contacts such as RRDNs, and the central EDGE team
• The average first response time to email support queries is 15 minutes
• An EDGE Community is available for users to connect and engage with the broader programme

EDGE was developed by the Clinical Informatics Research Unit at the Russell Group University of Southampton and positions itself as a purpose-built research management programme aimed at improving research quality, enabling collaboration, and ultimately allowing research professionals to spend more time with patients to deliver better care and faster treatment.