Add first go at detailing new application process

docs/apply-for-access.md

@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+# Apply for OpenSAFELY research access
+
+If you wish to use OpenSAFELY against *real patient data sets*, then you
+need to apply for research access.
+
+However, in line with our [Open Manifesto](open-data-manifesto.md),
+**OpenSAFELY's software is open source and free of charge for anyone to
+use**. Even without research approval, you can still use OpenSAFELY to
+work with synthetic data and evaluate whether how OpenSAFELY could
+benefit your research.
+
+!!!note
+    We suggest that anyone interested in OpenSAFELY completes the
+    [Getting Started](getting-started.md) tutorial, though this is not a
+    requirement for application.
+
+## OpenSAFELY research application form
+
+We have an [online application form](https://jobs.opensafely.org/apply)
+where you can:
+
+* Describe your proposed research.
+* Give details of the research team who would require access to
+  OpenSAFELY.
+
+### What you will need to apply
+
+* A free GitHub account, for accessing the sign-up process. We use
+  GitHub for submitting study jobs to OpenSAFELY.
+    * If you do not already have a GitHub account, you can create a GitHub
+      account during the sign-up process.
+* Information about your proposed research and research team:
+    * Contact details for the lead study author.
+    * The reasons for you requesting OpenSAFELY data access, including
+      references from research ethics committee approval.
+    * An outline of the proposed research.
+    * Details about your team, including information on:
+        * Your team's research background (for example, experience of
+          working with electronic health care records, and your experience
+          of programming languages used for statistical analysis, such as R,
+          Stata or Python).
+        * Your team's funding.
+        * Details of the team members requesting access to OpenSAFELY,
+          including whether they have completed "safe researcher" training.
+
+### How your application is processed and reviewed.
+
+(TODO: This is still sketchy here.)
+
+1. You fill in the application form and submit it.
+2. Both you and the OpenSAFELY team should receive confirmation of your
+   application.
+3. TODO: Is someone notified on changes? You will receive further
+   updates on the progress of your application. On review, we may add
+   notes to the form for your information. An OpenSAFELY reviewer might
+   request that you update the form based on those notes.
+4. Any other researchers included in your application will also be
+   contacted regarding their access.
+5. If your application is approved, we will contact you about our
+   onboarding process.
+
+(TODO: Not sure of the exact order here: is an application approved,
+then Amir contacts the researchers for more details, or he contacts the
+individual researchers first?)
+
+### Questions?
+
+If you have general questions or feedback about using the form, you can
+use our [Q&A
+forum](https://github.com/opensafely/documentation/discussions). For
+specific questions about your application, you can email:
+[`[email protected]`](mailto:[email protected]).

docs/getting-started.md

@@ -751,11 +751,16 @@ to GitHub.
 
 To write a real study and run it against actual patient data, you will first
 need to get permission for your project from NHS England, the data controllers
-for OpenSAFELY's data. [Read about our pilot onboarding programme
-here](https://www.opensafely.org/onboarding-new-users/).  Once approved, your
+for OpenSAFELY's data.
+
+[Read about our pilot onboarding
+programme](https://www.opensafely.org/onboarding-new-users/) and [see
+how to apply for OpenSAFELY project approval](apply-for-access.md).
+
+Once approved, your
 Github user account will be added to our `opensafely` Github organisation, along
 with your study repository, which gives you the ability to run your study
-against real data.  [Read more about permissions here](permissions.md).
+against real data. [Read more about permissions here](permissions.md).
 
 In the meantime, take a look at the rest of our documentation for more
 detail on the subjects covered in this tutorial. For example:

docs/index.md

@@ -62,6 +62,12 @@ instructions if you wish to install on your own computer.
 
 When you are more comfortable with how OpenSAFELY works, we recommend following one of our OpenSAFELY walkthroughs (see [this notebook](https://github.com/opensafely/os-demo-research#opensafely-demo-materials)) to guide you through the platform workflow on your own computer with dummy data, rather than using the documentation pages alone.
 
+## How do I apply for access to OpenSAFELY?
+
+There is [guidance](apply-for-access.md) in this documentation for
+researchers who wish to request access to use OpenSAFELY with patient
+data.
+
 !!! note "These documents are a work-in-progress"
     Please see the [Updating the Documentation page](requests-documentation.md) if you want to make improvements.
 

mkdocs.yml

@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ nav:
               - In-hospital deaths (covid-19 only): dataset-cpns.md
               - Registered deaths: dataset-onsdeaths.md
   - Getting Started guide: getting-started.md
+  - Apply for access: apply-for-access.md
   - Using OpenSAFELY:
       - Analysis workflow: workflow.md
       - GitHub repositories: repositories.md