Skip to content Exit mobile menu

Ethical Review Process

Ethical review and approval can take several weeks. It is recommended you submit your application at least two months before your research start date. Please also refer to our Research Integrity page.

Students

All students carrying out research involving human participants must obtain ethical approval beforehand. Failure to do so may result in disciplinary action. 

What do I do?

Please complete the Application for Ethical Approval (Research) and send it to your dissertation supervisor. Please also include any relevant documents listed in the application form checklist (usually at least a Participant Information Sheet and Consent Form). All these documents should be sent as one electronic document if possible labelled in the format: FULL NAME, FACULTY, SUPERVISOR. You and your supervisor can contact an ethics representative for advice.

How does it get processed?

Supervisors can review and approve the ethics application at level 1 (with the exception of supervisors of doctoral students) and must report/log the approval. Supervisors will send applications deemed to be of a higher risk (and doctoral student applications) to a Faculty Ethics Representative for assessment, who may approve it at level 1 or 2. Applications deemed to be of the highest risk level (3) will be sent by the Faculty Ethics Representative to the Ethics Sub-Committee Secretary for the next Sub-Committee meeting (see deadlines below). Applicants may be invited to attend this meeting to discuss their application with the Ethics Sub-Committee. It can take several weeks for ethics applications to be reviewed.  

Staff

All staff carrying out research must obtain ethical approval beforehand from an Ethics Representative (at faculty or university level) or the University Ethics Sub-Committee (if the Ethics Representative decides it should go to level 3). Failure to do so may result in disciplinary action.  Please contact an Ethics Representative for advice.

Ethics Sub-Committee deadlines 2023/24 (level 3 applications)

The Ethics Sub-Committee usually meets 21 days after each deadline. 

  • 6th September 2023
  • 11th October 2023
  • 8th November 2023
  • 29th November 2023
  • 10th January 2024
  • 7th February 2024
  • 6th March 2024
  • 3rd April 2024
  • 1st May 2024
  • 5th June 2024
  • 3rd July 2024
  • 7th August 2024

Downloadable Ethics Forms  

Guidelines

Remember - you and your supervisor can ask an Ethics Representative for advice.