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Research Ethics Committee

(Sub-Committee of Executive Board)

1. Secretary

A member of the Research Strategy and Development Service

 

2. Membership

Ex officio members:

(a) The member of Executive Board with responsibility for Research Ethics (Chair)

(b) The Chairs of the three Faculty Ethics Committees

(c) The three Heads of Faculty Research (or Deputies)

(d) The Chair of the Animal Welfare Ethical Review Board (AWERB)

(e) The Director of the Research Strategy and Development Service

(f) The University Dean of Research Culture & Strategy (Vice-Chair)

Appointed members: 

(g) Three members who shall not be members of the academic staff or salaried officers of the University, appointed by Council.

(h) Two members of the academic staff from a range of disciplines, appointed by Senate.

(i) A student appointed annually by the Students’ Union. 

The members in (g) & (h) shall be appointed for three years and shall be eligible for re-appointment.

The Committee may co-opt not more than two members with particular expertise. A quorum shall be not fewer than one third of the members and shall include at least one member from category (g). 

 

3. Terms of reference 

(a) To maintain overall ethical standards for the University’s research activities, including the research components of teaching programmes and consultancy, but excluding those areas exclusively covered by NHS research ethics committees. 1 2

(b) To monitor, review and report on research ethics in the University to Senate and Council via Executive Board and to make recommendations to Executive Board in the light of this.

(c) With specific regard to conduct of Research: 

(i) To facilitate ethical research in the University.3 

(ii) To determine ethical standards of practice in research referred to it for consideration. 

(iii) To protect the mental and physical well-being of subjects in research which involves healthy volunteers and which is not within the terms of reference of Health Research Authority Research Ethics Service ethical review procedures or other statutory regulatory authorities. 

(iv) To preserve the moral rights of research subjects. 

(v) To ensure compliance with all regulatory guidelines and legislation current at the time. 

(vi) To ensure the provision of written guidelines and other training resources on ethical issues for the conduct of research for use by staff and students of the University. 

(vii) To keep under review University policy and to make recommendation for change. 

(viii) To oversee the provision of written guidelines relating to consent and indemnity forms in the University. 

(d) The University Research Ethics Committee may delegate its powers described herein to Faculty Executive Boards to determine appropriate local (Faculty-based or School-based) levels of ethical scrutiny in accordance with Section 5 of the Guidance Note Ethics in Research - Policy and Procedure.

 

1 The ethical review of all research carried out on animals is undertaken by the Animal Welfare Ethical Review Board and does not fall under the remit of the University Research Ethics Committee, although the AWERB Chair is invited to present an annual report to the Committee

 

2 The jurisdiction of the NHS Research Ethics Committees includes projects involving:

  • • NHS patients, including those treated under contracts with private sector providers;
  • Foetal material and in vitro fertilisation involving NHS patients;
  • The recent dead in NHS premises (i.e. post mortem material);
  • Access to and/or use of any records relating to past or present NHS patients;
  • Any premises or facilities belonging to or under the control of the NHS;
  • Human subjects including healthy volunteers where the research may harm their physical or mental health.
  • Research on tissue samples derived from NHS patients or from participants in trials involving the NHS. (The latter is to cover healthy volunteer studies or controls within studies running through the NHS.

3 In accordance with guidance from the UKRI in their Terms and Conditions for Research Grants and Fellowships, “ethical issues should be interpreted broadly and may encompass, among other things, relevant codes of practice, the involvement of human participants, tissue or data in research, the use of animals, research that may result in damage to the environment, and the use of sensitive economic, social or personal data”.

Studies which raise ethical questions include but not limited to the following:

  • Those which involve any form of physical risk or serious inconvenience to the subject or to any third party;
  • Those which involve the administration of drugs or use of invasive or semi-invasive procedures;
  • Those which involve any risk of psychological damage or distress to the subject (or the subject’s family);
  • Those which involve privileged access to the subjects’ clinical records or personal data, or may incur the risk of the disclosure of sensitive information about the subject which has been disclosed by persons taking part in the investigation;
  • Those which involve subjects in care, or who are unable themselves to give consent, or who are deemed to be vulnerable or dependent;
  • Those which necessarily involve deception of subjects;
  • Those which may cause damage to, or destruction of, the environment. 

 

 

Established by Council Minute 34, 12.12.2005

Amended by Council Minutes 24, 12.12.2005; 12, 9.10.2006; 122,

16.7.2007; 83, 30.3.2009; 42, 7.12.2009; 62, 7.2.2011

Amended by Senate Minutes 11, 14.11.2006; 85, 19.6.2007; 45, 3.3.2009 Amended

by Executive Board, 22.3.2011

Amended by Executive Board, 25.03.2014