University Ethical Review Procedure - PVAC Faculty Office Guidance

Research in the Faculty of Performance Visual Arts and Communications is wide ranging and research ethics can be an issue across all of the Schools. The University has an ethical review procedure and details of this can be found on the Research Support website.

1 At the application stage, investigators will be asked to respond to the following three questions:
• Does this project involve human participants and/or their data?
• Does this project have potential for significant environmental impact?
• Does this project involve genetically modified plants?
If the answer to any of these questions is ‘yes’ then the proposal, if awarded might be subject to the University’s ethical research procedure.

2 If the project involves the NHS, then the investigator should also answer the following questions:
• Does this project involve any of the following: NHS staff, NHS patients, their tissue, organs, data, NHS facilities or equipment?
• Is this project a clinical trial of a medicinal product?
If the answer to any of these questions is ‘yes’ then the proposal, if awarded, might be subject to the NHS ethical research procedure.

In either case, if the investigator has or could possibly answer ‘yes’ to any of these questions, they will need to consult with the Senior Research Ethics Administrator – Jennifer Blaikie, ext 34873.

3 The Faculty Research Office (FRO) will email the questions in 1 and 2 above to the investigator at the application stage and ask them to:
• Inform Gabriela Saeed whether or not there are possible ethical issues in the proposed research by replying to the email (i.e. if ‘yes’ answers to any of the questions are possible). Nil response, where there are no ethical issues, should also be provided.
• Confirm that they are consulting the University's Senior Research Ethics Administrator to discuss if they would need to seek approval for the proposed project under either the University's or the NHS Ethical Review Procedures if the grant was awarded.
• Following these discussions, confirm with Gabriela Saeed if approval would need to be sought on award.

The answers to these questions will be recorded on:
• Costa, the University’s pre-award costing system;
• The Faculty pre-award checklist.

4 If the Senior Research Ethics Administrator advises that ethical review should proceed, then, if the grant is awarded, investigators need to complete either the University ethical review form which can be found at: Full Ethical Review or, if the investigator considers that the research is low risk, the University light touch ethical review form which can be found at: Light Touch Ethical Review

The completed and signed form (an electronic and hard copy) should then be forwarded to the PVAC Post-Award team (Cheryl Cooper or Jane Bates) so that the grant award and cost references can be added. The Post-Award team will then forward the application to the Senior Research Ethics Administrator who will refer the form to the relevant Faculty Research Ethics Committee (FREC) or, in the case of an application for light touch ethical review, the School Ethics Reviewer.

Investigators will be subsequently contacted by the Senior Research Ethics Administrator in writing (copied to the FRO) with:
• Request to submit an application for full ethical review (Light Touch only);
• Request for clarifications/more information before approval can be given;
• Approval of the proposal subject to certain conditions set by the FREC;
• Approval for the proposal.

If you have queries about any of the above, please contact the PVAC Faculty Research Manager on ext 37002.

30th March 2011