Ethics and Risk
ETHICS APPROVAL PROCEDURE FOR STUDENT RESEARCH
On behalf of the Head of the School of Law, the School has established the following procedure for the screening of all research activity undertaken by students (this includes UG, PGT and PGR) in the School of Law.
Any student carrying out research, should read the School of Law’s Ethical Policy Protocol and Risk Assessment document and complete the schools Project Title, Ethics and Risk Assessment Form.
Screening of Project Title, Ethics and Risk Assessment Form
This process requires you and your supervisor to confirm that you have agreed on an appropriate title for your project and that you have addressed any ethical considerations and risks.
There are six possible outcomes for this process:
- Your research falls within the standard parameters described in the School's ethics template Student Research Projects with Consenting Adults and you are free to undertake your research, providing you abide by the conditions set out in the template.
- Your research falls within the standard parameters described in the School's ethics template for Student Projects with Children and Young Adults and you are free to undertake your research, providing you abide by the conditions set out in the template.
- Your research will take place outside of the EU and therefore a full UREC application will have to be submitted
- Your research does not fall within the templates, ethical approval cannot be granted by the School of Law and you will need to complete an application form for approval of the research project for submission to the University Research Ethics Committee (UREC).
- Your research will involve NHS patients or staff, or working on NHS premises or your research involves adults who cannot consent themselves due to limited mental or physical capacity and approval must be sought via an NHS Research Ethics Committee
- Your research does not involve work with human participants: therefore no ethical clearance is required and you can go ahead and start your research project.
In ALL six cases you must start with the Project Title, Ethics and Risk Assessment Form, and the appropriate template describing the conditions under which the research will be carried out.
Templates:
Template for research with young adults and children
Template for research with consenting adults
You may also need to get a CRB check - see the section on CRB checks. Note that this can take up to 6 weeks. Ethical approval is conditional on obtaining a satisfactory CRB check.
When you and your supervisor have completed and signed your form, your supervisor will pass the form to the relevant Chair of the Board of Studies or Director or Deputy Director of Research/. He/she will review it, approve it if appropriate and pass it to the relevant Programme Administrator. The programme administrator will then email you to confirm whether you have approval or not.
There is no need to print out and submit the ethics template itself or the generic risk assessments referred to in the form.
After you have submitted your form, you may still change the title of your project with the agreement of your supervisor. If a change to the title has ethical or risk implications, you will need to complete and resubmit another form for ethical approval.
If it is decided that your research project does NOT fall within these Law templates or your research is being carried outside the UK, you must apply for full ethical review by the University Research Ethics Committee or if appropriate an NHS Research Ethics Committee. You will need to complete the following UREC form: UREC Application form
Or for NHS: https://www.myresearchproject.org.uk/
UREC Application
It is vital that when completing the UREC form that both you and your supervisor have read and understood the following:
UREC Application Guidance document
Further Guidance to completing the UREC Form - question by question
Your supervisor will review and provide feedback on the UREC form, which can be downloaded from the above web address, prior to its submission via the relevant School Office: for PGR applications the school’s Research Administration Office; for all other student applicants the Teaching Support Office.
UREC Process
- UREC form, risk assessment and other relevant documents, received by School Ethics Advisory Committee for screening.
- The screening process is to confirm that the paperwork has been completed correctly, that the project has been reviewed, has a sound rationale and design, that the risks to the researcher have been identified, and that the researchers have appropriate experience and/or training to conduct their roles in the research. The committee may contact you for further information or clarification. The application will be countersigned by the Chair of the panel or the Chair’s nominee
- Once the screening process is completed then the UREC form is sent to the University Research Ethics Committee.
- You and your supervisor will be invited to attend the committee meeting at which your UREC application is to be considered.
- UREC will notify you when they have approved your project, or with outstanding queries. In this case, the clarification will be considered at their next available meeting.
- Only when you have received ethical approval from UREC are you able to proceed with any data collection (including pilot data).
Safety and Risk Assessment
The ethics template requires you to make a risk assessment of your project. The School's generic risk assessment documents are listed below. If your project does not fall within these generic risk assessments you will have to complete a full risk assessment form, with guidance from your supervisor, outlining the specific risks you anticipate and the measures you plan to take to address them. Submit this risk assessment with your Project Title, Ethics and Risk Assessment Form. If one of the generic templates fits your project in most, but not all, respects, you can use the full risk assessment form to state which generic assessment mainly applies and to then specify the risks associated with your project that fall outside the generic assessment, and the measures you plan to take to address them.
School of Law Generic A: Normal office work on campus
School of Law Generic B: Off-campus work in UK
School of Law Generic C: Low risk overseas destinations
Full Risk Assessment pro-forma
Insurance
Ethical approval must be obtained in order for your insurance cover to be effective. Also if your project involves specific kinds of risks (usually related to medical research), you may need to get special approval from the University Insurance Office. Download the Insurance form for more information and to check if your project might need special approval.
http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=11970.
Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check
If you complete an ethical approval form for a project that involves working with under-18s (or adults with learning difficulties), you will need to obtain a satisfactory Enhanced CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) Disclosure.
To do this, contact Deborah Nash (PA to Head of Faculty Administration, deborah.nash@manchester.ac.uk, External number: 0161-306-1102). She will give you a CRB application form and instructions on how to proceed. MAKE SURE SHE KNOWS THAT YOU ARE FROM THE SCHOOL OF LAW.
When completed, she will send the forms off. Both you and she will get a reply from the CRB (this can take about 6 weeks). Deborah Nash will then notify the relevant person in the PG Office that a satisfactory CRB disclosure has been received for you. The relevant person is Ceri Wilson ceri.wilson@manchester.ac.uk for UG and PGT applications or Jackie Boardman jackie.boardman@manchester.ac.uk for PGR programmes.
Any ethical approval you may have received before this point is conditional on the relevant Office receiving this notification.