PGR Guidance on Research Ethics and Integrity

Learn more about research ethics and integrity, and how to submit for a favourable ethical approval

What is ethics?

Ethics in research exists to protect the rights, dignity, safety and privacy of individuals participating in research, the wellbeing of animals and the protection of the environment, but also the safety and wellbeing of researchers themselves.

Understanding Ethical Review

Whilst not all doctoral projects will require a favourable ethical opinion to proceed, the vast majority of those with human participants will. Therefore,  it is recommend that all PGR hold early discussions with their supervisory team to consider the ethics of their research and the need for review by a research ethics committee (REC). If review by a REC is likely to be needed at some point in the project, this should be discussed with the Independent Assessor at Project Approval stage.

Even if the project does not require consideration by a REC, it must still adhere to the expectations on research integrity as set out in the University’s Code of Practice for Research.  Research integrity encompasses a broader range of activities and considerations, including issues relating to authorship, plagiarism and the (mis)representation of source materials, fabrication, falsification and failure to meet legal and professional obligations. It is incumbent on every researcher to act with integrity, irrespective of whether their project has been reviewed by a REC.

Favourable opinion from a REC does not need to be in place prior to Project Approval being submitted, but the proposal should identify if the research might require it in the future. A REC application should be submitted before data collection commences and once a clear outline of the project and methodologies to be employed have emerged. Data should not be collected until favourable opinion is in place.

Submitting your application

At NTU, applications for ethical approval are submitted on Worktribe.  Once submitted, the application will be reviewed by the relevant REC.

Supervisory teams will be able to provide guidance on the ethical review process, potentially drawing on experiences from their own applications.

Guidance documents have been created to explain the principles of research ethics and the need for their existence, while further support and guidance is available on the process of submitting an application on the Research Support SharePoint site.