School ethics committees
Role and remit
School ethics committees (SECs) conduct the ethical review and approval of research activities within their School that involve human participants, their data or samples. This responsibility is devolved to SECs by the University Teaching and Research Ethics Committee (UTREC) and is subject to monitoring.
For researchers
Ethical applications and any queries relating to ethical issues arising from your research should be directed to the SEC contact for your School (see Contacts and members below).
For students taking a joint honours degree, these should be submitted to the SEC of the School your supervisor belongs to. If your School does not have a SEC, email the UTREC office at utrecmail@st-andrews.ac.uk for guidance.
The ethical review process is detailed on the ethical review application page.
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Each SEC must have a minimum of four members (at least two of whom should be permanent staff members). This is to ensure that there are always three SEC members involved in the review of an application, even if one member is excluded by having a conflict of interest.
The minimum number of members required to be present at a SEC meeting or to review an application is three (at least two of whom should be permanent staff).
School ethics committee Members Art History
Contact:
dsw1@st-andrews.ac.uk
(Dawn Waddell)- Nicôle Meehan (convenor)
- Dawn Waddell (administrator)
- Lynn Ayton (administrator - PG)
- Dr Agnès Bos
- Ms Ann Gunn
- Dr Camilla Mork Rostvik
- Dr Ulrike Weiss
Biology
Contact:
bioethics@st-andrews.ac.uk- Dr Luke Rendell (convenor - human ethics)
- Professor Patrick Miller (convenor - animal ethics)
- Lianne Baker (administrator)
- Dr Helder Ferreira
- Dr Neil Hazon
- Professor Christian Rutz
- Dr Juan Varela
Classics
Contact:
classicshos@st-andrews.ac.uk- Professor Rebecca Sweetman
Computer Science
Contact:
ethics-cs@st-andrews.ac.uk- Dr Tristan Henderson (convenor)
- Wendy Boyter (administrator)
- Lisa Dow
- Dr Uta Hinrichs
- Dr Alexander Konovalov
- Dr Alice Toniolo
- Dr Alexander Voss
- Dr Juan Ye
Divinity
Contact:
divinitypg@st-andrews.ac.uk- Dr Eric Stoddart (convenor)
- Professor Mario Aguilar
- Rev Katrin Bosse
- Rev Dr Steve Holmes
- Joanna Leidenhag
Economics and Finance
Contact:
ah33@st-andrews.ac.uk
(Angela Hodge)- Dr Margaret Leighton (convenor)
- Angela Hodge (administrator)
- Dr Joao Cunha
- Professor Roderick McCrorie
- Dr Matt Polisson
English
Contact:
ajcg@st-andrews.ac.uk
(Andrea Givan)- Professor Nicholas Roe (convenor)
- Ms Andrea Givan (administrator)
- Dr Lorna Burns
- Dr Margaret Connolly
- Dr Sam Haddow
- Dr Emma Jones
- Dr Tom Jones
- Dr Emma Sutton
International Education Institute
Contact:
ajb31@st-andrews.ac.uk
(Janie Brooks)SEC website: Moodle Page
- Janie Brooks (convenor)
- Monica Burns (administrator)
- Steven Bartholomew (lay member)
- Alan Duncan
- Kerith George-Briant
- John Hughes
- Jennifer Taylorson
Geography and Sustainable Development
Contact:
ggethics@st-andrews.ac.uk- Dr Antje Brown (convenor)
- Natalie Connell (administrator)
- Dr Paula Duffy
- Dr Jo Hale
- Dr Sharon Leahy
- Dr Mike Kesby
- Dr Katy Keenan
Graduate School
Contact:
gradschool@st-andrews.ac.uk- Dr Emma Bond (convenor)
- Miss Katja Schubert (administrator)
- Mr Brett Dodgson
- Dr Margaret Leighton
- Dr Sophie Smout
History
Contact:
lh@st-andrews.ac.uk
(Lorna Harris)- Dr Angus Stewart (convenor)
- Lorna Harris (administrator)
- Dr Emma Hart
- Dr Dimitri Kastritsis
- Dr Christine McGladdery
International Relations
Contact:
irethics@st-andrews.ac.uk- Dr Diego Muro (convenor)
- Joyce Walsh (administrator)
- Gillian Brunton
- Dr Catherine Jones
- Dr Luke Middup
- Dr Vassilios Paipas
- Professor Ali Watson
Management
Contact:
management.ethics@st-andrews.ac.uk- Dr Vicky Ward (co-convenor)
- Dr Juliette Summers (co-convenor)
- Sam Letham (administrator)
- Dr Celal Agar
- Dr Eleanor Burt
- Dr Hannah Dean
- Mr Martin Dowling
- Siobhan Dumbreck
- Dr Min Li
- Dr Sam Mansell
- Dr Fergus Neville
- Dr Ralitza Nikolaeva
- Dr Anna Sobiech
- Professor Lorna Stevenson
- Dr Mao Zhang
Mathematics and Statistics
Contact:
rmr5@st-andrews.ac.uk
(Rhona Rodger)- Professor Andy Lynch (convenor)
- Rhona Rodger (administrator)
- Professor Mark Chaplain
- Dr Richard Glennie
- Dr Lindesay Scott-Hayward
Medicine
Contact:
medethic@st-andrews.ac.uk- Dr Morven Shearer (convener)
- Gill Rhodes (administrator)
- Dr Robert Humphreys
- Dr Anita Laidlaw
- Dr Calum McHale
- Dr Simon Powis
- Anna Robertson
- Dr Derek Sloan
Modern Languages
Contact:
langsethics@st-andrews.ac.uk- Dr Victoria Donovan (convenor)
- Laura P Ferra (administrator)
- Professor Nicki Hitchcott
- Professor Jordi Larios
- Dr Vicky Turner
- Dr Claire Whitehead
Social Anthropology
Contact:
socanthadmin@st-andrews.ac.uk- Dr Stavroula Pipyrou (convenor)
- Lisa Neilson (administrator)
- Margot Clement (administrator)
- Dr Ana Gutierrez Garza
- Dr Adam Reed
- Dr Huon Wardle
Physics and Astronomy
Contact:
da16@st-andrews.ac.uk
(Dimali Vinthage)-
Professor Kishan Dholaka (convenor)
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Dr Dimali Vithanage (administrator)
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Dr Andrew Bunting
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Dr Andrew Morton
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Dr J Carlos Penedo-Esteiro
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Dr Cameron Rae
Psychology and Neuroscience
(human and animal)
Contact:
psyethics@st-andrews.ac.uk- Shona Deigman (convenor)
- Dr Helen Sunderland (administrator)
- Dr Justin Ales
- Dr Catherine Cross
- Dr Maggie Ellis
- Dr Catherine Hobaiter
- Dr Eoin O'Sullivan
- Dr Thomas Otto
- Dr Sam Pehrson
- Dr Erin Robbins
- Dr David Tait
- Dr Nicole Tausch
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SEC meetings occur regularly. For information on dates and deadlines of SEC meetings, email your SEC contact or refer to your SEC's webpage (see contacts section above).
Ethical application forms must be submitted to the relevant School ethics committee (see contacts section above). After submission your application will be reviewed and discussed at the next SEC meeting, and the SEC will respond, providing constructive criticism and advice. The details of the review process are provided on the application page.
If your school does not have a SEC, email the UTREC office at utrecmail@st-andrews.ac.uk for guidance.
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SECs have their own procedures in place to ensure continuity in performing ethical review, but are accountable to, and monitored by, UTREC, in the following ways:
- All SEC members must be trained every three years by the UTREC office.
- SECs must upload all applications they approve into a central database run by the UTREC office.
- Summaries of all applications approved by SECs, taken from the central database, are scrutinised by UTREC at its meetings.
- UTREC may request to review the full documentation for any approved application, in the interest of either sharing best practice or investigating a concern, and may invite the researcher(s) or relevant SEC Convenor to speak to the application.
- Members of UTREC or the UTREC office may attend SEC meetings.
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Ethical review must be free from bias and undue influence.
This requires that researchers or supervisors are not involved in the review of proposals for which they have a conflict of interest; including the researchers, participants, or organisations related to the proposal. SEC members are responsible for actively identifying and declaring any such conflicts, and ensuring they are not involved in the review of any such proposals.