Research Innovation Enterprise

Research Innovation Enterprise

Research Ethics Applications Update – February 2022

February 24, 2022 Ethics, Research information management, Researcher integrity , , , ,

The online research and innovation ethics application form for staff and research students is now available to all 7 ethics committees via Worktribe. Each school has a committee and we now have a new Education Research Integrity Committee (ERIC) covering both DLTE and school based educational research. Any school based researchers intending to apply to ERIC will need to change the default committee/ethics liaison on the details tab in their application to ‘Education Research Integrity Committee’ or change the Org Unit to DLTE.

We have developed the system with the supplier and guidance for applicants is detailed below.

Adding and Closing Ethics Applications

Ethics applications are created in Worktribe for funded applications at the awarded stage (in most cases there is no need to apply for full ethics review at application stage). You can create the application via the project record ethics tab or via the ethics menu.

For unfunded, school funded or research student applications you create your application once you have developed your research plan. You do not need to have a linked project record for these and a standalone ethics application can be created from the ethics menu in Worktribe.

Once an application has been approved or given favourable opinion, it will remain at this status until you mark the project as closed or apply for an amendment. All ethics applications have project dates. When you reach the end of your project date you should select the ‘mark project complete’ button if you are no longer collecting data or apply for an amendment if the work is ongoing. If you are unsure you can contact your committee convener for advice.

Changes to Online Application Functionality

The online ethics applications module within Worktribe is planned to be updated on the evening of 23rd February. This will introduce some updates to the user experience for applicants and reviewers. Changes include:

  • a new workflow for submitting Research Students applications which will require the named supervisor to check and approve the submission to the committee
  • the ability to have more than one applicant working on an application collaboratively
  • an improved reviewer feedback mechanism
  • an application amendment details text box

Full details can be found in the Napier User guide here.

Example Applications and Supporting Documents

Ethics committee conveners are collecting example application forms and supporting documents for you to see real examples of the application questions, consent forms, participant information, data protection documents etc.

At the moment we have some examples from Heath and Social Care but plan to expand this across all disciplines. If you are interested in sharing your application please contact your committee convener in the first instance.

The examples are available here. There is a excel file summarising the application and  documents available within the named folder for that application.

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