The Process
As described in the UTREC remit, UTREC focuses on academic activity involving human subjects including those that may have potentially adverse consequences for human welfare and wellbeing. It also provides an overview of funders/sponsors (including firms and institutions) providing funding for research and assesses whether such funding should be accepted.
UTREC focus lies on six issues:
1.) The welfare and protection of participants/subjects in research and teaching.
2.) The ethics of research practices and modes of activity involving human subjects.
3.) Morally inappropriate uses of the outcomes of such research.
4.) Issues of research sponsorship, especially where conflicts may arise or adverse consequences for the School or the University may ensue.
5.) The approval and review of individual activities of this kind.
6.) The approval and review of funders/sponsors (See below under Issues of Funders and Effects on the University and School).
To address the concerns listed at 1-5 UTREC has directed that all research involving human subjects be subjected to review. The School Ethics Committee (SEC) is the first and often only step in this process. Guided by the concerns and principles adopted by UTREC the various SECs around campus review the research and teaching that occurs under their auspices. In the case of the School of International Relations this would represent all of the research and teaching conducted within the school and the various centres associated with it. The SEC, comprising of three or four full time and permanent peers from the School, attends to the proposed research, providing constructive criticism and advice in the case of the need for revisions or resubmissions. Once the SEC has approved the research proposal, the applicant is free to conduct all of the research indicated and outlined in the proposal. That is, approval is given for a whole project, and does not require iterative approvals for discrete human engagements, unless there is a major revision or deviations from the design originally submitted. Likewise, iterative steps in a research agenda can be submitted in succession so that a researcher may begin one aspect of the overall project, and apply for approval of subsequent aspects at a later date. This allows researchers to begin work once they have a coherent design that meets the rigors of peer review. Minor revisions can be amended to the original SEC and /or UTREC approval. The SEC refers its decisions to UTREC for acknowledgement and monitoring.
In some particularly difficult, complex or novel cases, the SEC may choose to immediately send the application to UTREC for consideration, along with its own comments. Similarly in cases where the members of the SEC cannot agree the proposal will be referred to UTREC. It is the goal of the presently-constituted SEC to provide decisions on consensus. Should a process of internal revisions and resubmissions not produce a consensus of approval the application will be sent forward to UTREC. It is UTREC that has the final decision for the university. Its decisions cannot be appealed, as the Vice Principal for Research is on UTREC. However, applications not approved by UTREC can be revised and resubmitted, and advice is generally given by UTREC on facilitating this, as the aim to help research to occur.
In some cases additional ethics approval, exterior to the University, will be required. Generally these cases involve particularly vulnerable or sensitive populations. Research conducted within hospitals, prisons, or schools, for example, require additional ethical reviews from bodies such as the NHS, the Prison Service and Education authorities. In Scotland, research involving youth under 18 requires an additional police background check associated with Disclosure Scotland; work with other populations may similarly require Extended Disclosure Scotland approval. The URL address is listed below. Also many funders require submission to their own ethics review process, including ESRC. Even in cases where external or additional approval is required, the research must still obtain SEC and UTREC approval as the University is ultimately and legally responsible for all research undertaken by its members. External approval obtained from approved collaborating research institutes may expedite the process, foregoing the need to submit a full application for review. Please refer to the list of recognized collaborating research institutes on the UTRECV website. Should the institution with which you are engaged in collaborative research not appear on the list, it may be added at the conclusion of the application process.
