We now have an online ethics application system within our Worktribe system. This was added on 17th June 2020. This part of the system is now live for use for researchers in the Schools of Computing and Health and Social Care.
This part of the Worktribe system has been developed with the supplier (Worktribe) in collaboration with staff at Napier and several other UK Universities. Applications will be online within our Worktribe system. There is a document area to upload additional documents related to the application eg Participant Information Sheets, Consent forms, privacy notices, external ethics approval documents.
This will replace the current paper forms used by the different Research Integrity committees and will help support our commitment to the new Concordat on Research Integrity
Depending on the nature of the research and how you answer questions you will have more or fewer questions and sections to complete. There is a reviewer workflow so the application can be submitted to the convener and committee members for review. A decision will be sent to you via the system, but there are exportable documents which can be provided if needed (application form and decision letter). Ethics amendments can also be processed though the record when needed.
Roll out of online ethics application:
This will be a phased launch with Schools adopting the online Integrity (ethics) application at different times. The current schedule is:
June: Schools of Health and Social Care and Computing
August: School of Applied Sciences, the Business School and Cross University Committee
TBD: Schools of Arts and Creative Industries and Engineering and Built Environment
Your School Integrity Convener will provide specific details around when your school will start adopting the Worktribe functionality and any School or discipline requirements and processes. Please do not create applications in the system until your school convener has communicated that you should start using the online application. If you have any questions about how and when the School process will change please contact your committee convener.
You will be able to create and ethics application from the ethics menu or an existing project within Worktribe.
Pre-award ethics check:
As part of this change the current Project Ethics checklist (pre-award) has moved to the checklist tab. Only the full ethics application is available on the ethics tab of the project. If you select the ethics application by mistake, please don’t complete the whole form but contact us (RIE or school Integrity Convener) and we can remove this for you.
The existing checklist data has been migrated from completed ‘ethics checklists’ to the new ‘checklist’ on the project records.
Help:
Guidance documents and videos will be available on the Worktribe Intranet page.
During the phased roll out any questions about the ethics product or issues with functionality should be directed to myself, L.Ramage@napier.ac.uk. Questions about your School process should go to your school Research Integrity Convener.