useful internal links
LINK TEXT HERE
useful external links
LINK TEXT HERE

Administrative Structure for Ethics Review

University's Ethics Committee
Faculty Ethics Committees
Ethical approval at Department/School level
Audit

University's Ethics Committee

The University’s Ethics Committee, a committee of Senate, undertakes the following core activities:

Development of policy and guidance;
Provision of oversight for all research-related ethical issues;
Assessment of applications for ethical approval only when referred by a Faculty Ethics Committee (FEC);
Hearing of appeals against decisions made by FECs (an appeal against a decision made by the University’s Ethics Committee when considering an application for ethical approval will be heard by a specially convened committee);
Maintenance of interaction with NHS research ethics committees;
Maintenance of interaction with other external research ethics committees (for example, that of the MoD) where appropriate;
Receipt of annual reports from Faculty Ethics Committees;
Audit of a sample of applications processed by FECs to ensure that there is consistency in FEC working across the University;
Provision of an annual report to Senate which includes a summary of the decision made in response to applications for ethical approval in the previous year by the Ethics Committee and all FECs.

Membership of the Ethics Committee comprises a mix of academic staff, representatives of the students’ union, lay members, the University Records Manager and the University Safety Officer. The current membership is:

Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise): Professor Rob Massara (Chair)
Dean of the Graduate School: Professor Joan Busfield
Head of the Department of Biological Sciences: Professor Graham Underwood
Head of the Department of Health and Human Sciences: Dr Peter Martin
Head of the Department of Law or his/her nominee: Dr Sabine Michalowski
Head of the Department of Psychology: Professor Elaine Fox
Director of ESRC Research Centre on Micro-Social Change: Professor Stephen Pudney
University Records Manager: Ms Sara Stock
University Health and Safety Manager: Ms Claire Saunders
Vice-President (Education) of the Students’ Union: Mr Jousef Joondan
Ethics and Environment Officer of the Students’ Union: Daisy Blench
Dr Tony Elston, Lay Member
Professor Wayne Martin
Dr David Pevalin, former Chair of an NHS REC
Ms Auriol Stevens, Lay Member

Faculty Ethics Committees

There are three Faculty Ethics Committees (FEC):

the Humanities and Comparative Studies FEC;
the Science and Engineering FEC; and
the Social Sciences and Law & Management FEC

Membership comprises the Research Directors of Departments/Schools in the Faculty(ies) represented, one of whom acts as the chair of the FEC (rotating for one year).

Each FEC assesses applications for ethical approval passed to them by Departmental/School Research Directors in accordance with the procedures below. The FEC:

refers applications back to an applicant where change, clarification or additional information is required;
grants approval for applications within the Faculty; or
refers an application to the Ethics Committee. The criteria to assist FECs in deciding whether to refer an application to the Ethics Committee are set out in Annex A.

All application forms are signed by the relevant Research Director (if approved at departmental level) or by the chair of the FEC (if considered at faculty level).

Each FEC provides an annual report to the Ethics Committee summarising all decisions made in relation to applications received during the previous academic year. These annual reports are used to assist in the compilation of the Ethics Committee’s annual report to Senate.

Ethical approval at Department/School level

Applications are assessed by the Research Director of the appropriate Departments/Schools in the first instance. Ethical approval can be given by the Research Director if the project only involves the procedures listed on the approved list given in Annex B.

Each Research Director provides an annual report to the appropriate FEC summarising all decisions made in relation to applications received during the previous academic year. Signed application form cover sheets (two pages) must be sent regularly to the Research Governance and Planning Manager as Secretary of the University’s Ethics Committee. The full copy of all applications is retained by the department/school.

Audit

Lay members of the University’s Ethics Committee are asked to provide oversight and scrutiny of the approval process by randomly selecting and assessing a number of applications each year.

[top of page]