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Making an Application for Ethical Approval

There is a single application for ethical approval form.

A completed application form, together with a copy of the research proposal and any necessary supporting documentation (e.g. consent form, recruiting materials, etc), should be submitted electronically, to the appropriate Departmental/School Research Director. A signed copy of the form must also be submitted.

Applications will be assessed by the Research Director in the first instance. Ethical approval will be given by the Research Director if the project only involves the procedures listed on the approved list given in Annex B to this procedure. However, please note that research projects funded by Research Councils are expected to be referred to the FEC unless they have already received approval from a recognized external ethics committee.

If the procedure is not on the approved list, then the application will be forwarded to the Faculty Ethics Committee (FEC) for assessment. The FEC will:

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

If an application is forwarded to the Ethics Committee by a FEC, two academic members and one lay member will be allocated on a rotation basis to assess it. Copies will also be passed to the University Records Manager and the Health and Safety Manager for information. Assessors will have two weeks in which to provide a consensus view by email. This will be conveyed to the applicant by the Ethics Committee Secretary. Decisions are guaranteed within a four-week period from when an application is referred by a FEC.

Once a decision has been reached and the application form has been signed, it will be returned to the Departmental Research Director who should inform the applicant.

Once signed the application form cover sheets (two pages) must be sent to the Research Governance and Planning Manager as Secretary of the University’s Ethics Committee. The full copy of the application will be retained by the department/school for 6 years following completion of the project.

A flowchart of the University's Ethics Approval Process can be found here.

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