Accessing data and conducting research about corrective services

Queensland Corrective Services (QCS) aims to deliver high quality, evidence-based corrective services, supported by innovation, research and the application of best practices. We therefore welcome productive collaboration with organisations and individual researchers to generate evidence-based knowledge and translate the knowledge into practice.

You have to get permission to conduct research using any of our staff or facilities, offenders under our supervision, or data we hold.

We can provide publicly available information to help school students, undergraduates or honours students with assignments or other questions.

On this page

Who can conduct research with QCS

To conduct research with QCS, you must apply for approval from the QCS Commissioner.

We generally accept applications from:

  • academics employed by a higher education institution
  • Masters or PhD students
  • health professionals or researchers
  • corrective services employees doing post-graduate study.

Applications to conduct research with QCS are not accepted from prisoners in custody or offenders currently under supervision.

QCS Research and Evaluation Committee (REC) will consider your application and make recommendations to the Commissioner about whether to approve it.

The committee is made up of senior QCS executives from key areas of the organisation. It oversees all research and evaluation activities involving QCS.

Research projects we support

The committee is dedicated to supporting ethically sound research initiatives that further our goals of:

  • enhancing community safety
  • rehabilitating offenders
  • preventing re-offending.

The committee examines proposals for research and evaluation, and determines which projects can proceed by considering:

  • feasibility and impact on operations
  • potential value to the existing knowledge base
  • alignment with the QCS strategic plan 2025–2029
  • whether an ethical and robust method is proposed.

Applying for approval

This is a summary of the approval process and general timelines:

  1. Application submitted. Learn how to apply.
  2. Feedback exchange, 2 to 4 weeks.
  3. Committee consideration, 4 weeks.
  4. Approval by Commissioner, 4 to 12 weeks.
  5. Paperwork, 2 to 6 weeks.
  6. Ready to start.

These timeframes are estimates only and will depend on the variety of elements covered by an application.

How to apply

Before you apply, we expect you to:

  1. Read these documents carefully
  2. Start filling out an application to conduct research form .
  3. Contact us   to discuss your draft   application by

Once ready, email us your completed application and supporting documents (including ethics approval, if required).

Our committee will only consider your application once we have received all necessary supporting documents.

Ethics approval

If you want to conduct research with human subjects, or using administrative data about individuals, you must present evidence that you will comply with appropriate ethical guidelines.

We accept ethics approval from recognised Human Research Ethics Committees (HRECs) in Australia.

The QCS REC cannot provide ethics approval for any research projects.

Supporting documents

Supporting documents are:

  • a copy of your ethics application submitted to a recognised HREC in Australia
  • any comments from your ethics committee and your response to them
  • evidence of ethics approval
  • any survey questionnaire, participant recruitment email, participant information sheet, informed consent form or other instruments and data collection tools—whichever is applicable
  • additional ethics approval from Queensland Health—if you require contact with medical staff, patients or medical records
  • approval from relevant agencies—if your project involves any other government agencies.

Feedback exchange

The QCS Research, Evaluation, Data Insights and Analysis Group is the secretariat for the REC. They will give you feedback on your application, ideally within 10 business days. It may take up to 20 business days if your application requires consultation with multiple QCS business areas.

Your final application—revised to the secretariat’s satisfaction, if necessary—will be presented at the next committee meeting. For this to happen, we must receive it before the final application closing date (dates below).

Final applications received after the closing date are presented to the following meeting.

You can request an out-of-session committee meeting for an urgent application, but we will only consider your request in exceptional circumstances.

Committee consideration and endorsement

The REC meets to:

  • thoroughly review applications
  • make decisions to recommend that projects proceed or not proceed.

2026 committee meeting schedule

Final applications close

Meeting date

Tuesday 19 May 2026

Tuesday 16 June 2026

Tuesday 15 September 2026

Tuesday 13 October 2026

We expect you to contact us about your intentions to apply well before the application closing date.

Commissioner approval

After the meeting, you will be advised of the provisional decision.

We will then provide written advice of the final outcome after the Commissioner approves the committee recommendations (about 4-12 weeks after the meeting).

Paperwork

If your application is approved, we will ask:

  • the principal researcher to sign a Deed of agreement (DoA), which states any conditions of the approval
  • all research team members who need access to QCS data or data generated out of the research exercise (e.g. interview data) to sign a Confidentiality and data management agreement (CDMA).

Access to QCS facilities

If you need to access a QCS facility for your research, we will ask you to fill out a Security check form.

Processing these checks typically takes 1 to 2 weeks. However it can take 4 to 6 weeks, depending on your history.

If you need access to a QCS custodial facility, we will ask you to complete a short online training session. This will help you understand prison protocols before your visit. The training will be organised through the QCS Academy.

While in a QCS facility

You must tell a corrective services officer immediately if, during your research, you get information that leads you to reasonably believe that a prisoner or offender:

  • has committed an offence they have not already been charged with
  • is planning to commit a serious offence.

Support from QCS

We try to support researchers as much as possible and practical.

However, in rare cases relevant areas may not be able to support a research project due to unforeseen challenges. This may result in delays or our inability to support the project—even after it has been approved by QCS.

Before you publish

You must give us a draft of the project’s output before submitting it for publication, presentation or wider dissemination. This is primarily to ensure facts and information around QCS policies and practices in the publication are accurate.

We then give you written advice about the publication. Your responsibilities for handling and publishing QCS data will be set out in your DoA and CDMA.

Publicly available information

Queensland datasets

Australian datasets

Corrective services outside Queensland

Other Australian corrective services

International corrective services

Last updated:
28 May 2026