Research governance and ethics
Research governance and ethics within the School of Human and Health Sciences
School Research Ethics and Integrity Committee (SREIC)
The main purpose of the School Research Ethics and Integrity Committee (SREIC) is to govern, administrate and scrutinise research proposals that come from within the School of Human and Health Sciences in order to ensure that they meet ethical standards for research. The review process is designed to ensure that researchers protect the health, well-being, dignity and rights of research participants, and the legitimate interests of other stakeholders. SREIC also offers advice to researchers within the School about ethical conduct in research. SREIC is not able to consider applications from outside the School of Human and Health Sciences.
It is essential that staff and post-graduate researchers gain the appropriate ethical approval for their research, and that, once approval has been awarded, they comply with those terms of approval. As the University’s Research Ethics and Integrity Framework states:
Each member of staff or student involved in research is responsible for complying with the University’s Ethics and Integrity Policy and Code of Practice…..Once approved, it is the responsibility of the researcher to ensure that the research is carried out in compliance with the terms of approval.
University of Huddersfield Research Ethics and Integrity Framework
All remote interviewing should continue to adhere to the ethical guidelines set down by the School of Human and Health Sciences. Zoom, Facebook and WhatsApp should not be used for the purposes of recording interviews. Microsoft Teams is the university preferred approach for undertaking online interviews. All University Staff and PGRs have access to Microsoft Teams. The software can be used in an online web interface or via an app that can be downloaded to computer or mobile device.
SREIC is concerned with ethical review prior to research commencing and the monitoring of compliance once the research has commenced; its procedures do not include those for the peer review of research applications, which is addressed in the School's Peer Review of Research Applications Management System (PRRAMS).
The law regarding data protection has changed. GDPR came into being on 25th May 2018. Please ensure that you understand your obligations in terms of obtaining and processing personal data. University guidance isavailable at https://www.hud.ac.uk/informationgovernance/dataprotection/. If you have any questions or concerns please email us and we can offer advice, or discuss with your supervisors. This link has some useful information and advice https://www.hra.nhs.uk/about-us/news-updates/gdpr-guidance-researchers/
The SREIC website
The SREIC website comprises three sections;
- Applying for internal and external ethical approval
As well as explaining SREIC procedures, this section provides supporting documentation, guidance and information about submitting applications to both SREIC and external ethics committees, and related training.
- Taught Course Ethics Panels Protocol
All Course Leaders are required to follow the Taught Course Ethics Panels Protocol (Taught Course Ethics Panels – Code of Conduct for SHHS).
- Members and meetings
This section lists and provides links to the profiles of the current members of the panel and the schedule for meetings of the panel in the current academic year.
- Ethical and legal guidelines and codes of research conduct
The website supplies an index of external and internal web resources, giving information of relevant national and international statements of ethical principles, guidelines, standards and codes for conduct, professional values and behaviour.
Contact
If you would like any further information about SREP please do not hesitate to contact the SREIC administrator:
Kirsty Thomson
E-mail: hhs_srep@hud.ac.uk
The named contact for SREP is Prof Ann Caress - Interim SREIC Chair (e-mail: A.Caress@hud.ac.uk)