School Research Ethics Committee

Research involving human participants, human material and/or human data is subject to formal ethical review and approval before such work can be started.

Our Research and Ethics Committee is responsible for granting ethical approval for non-clinical research involving human participants, material or data. This applies to:

• all PhD and Professional Doctorate student projects
• members of staff undertaking research not requiring HRA ethical approval
• masters students (excluding MSc Advanced Practice)
• members of staff undertaking research not requiring HRA ethical approval.

The Committee will also oversee the administration of undergraduate research projects.

The ethics committee procedures and all the documents for applying for School Research Ethics Approval can be found in Learning Central at Organisations - Postgraduate Learning Central Module - School Research Ethics on the left hand menu.

Submission and meeting dates

Meetings take place on a monthly basis but applications must be submitted three weeks prior to the meeting date in order to allow time for them to be reviewed.

The meetings are held on the first Tuesday of every month.

Proportionate review

Projects that are considered low risk may be eligible for proportionate review. If your project is eligible it will be considered outside of the meeting and submission dates for the full ethics committee. The screening criteria to check if your project is eligible can be found in section 4 of the School research ethics application form. Ethics applications being managed in the proportionate review will still receive 2 ethical reviews and evaluation by the chair/ nominated person.

Outcome decision following ethics review

Application and Lead Reviewer comments are considered by the Committee or the Chair/ nominated person for proportionate review. A decision is communicated to the applicant within 5 working days of the date of the meeting or completion of proportionate reviews.

Committee recommendations can include:

• A favourable ethical opinion.
• A favourable ethical opinion, subject to conditions specified by the committee or reviewers.
• A provisional opinion subject to the committee receiving and reviewing further information.
• An unfavourable opinion.

Research can only commence for projects when ethical approval has been granted.

Ethical approval

Information regarding ethical approval for clinical research involving human participants, material and/or data can be accessed via the NHS Health Research Authority. If you are applying to HRA for approval you first need to read the information on the research governance webpages.

Contact

For further information please contact: