Applications

New online ethics system for research involving humans

Please use the online ethics system to submit a new ethics application:

You may need to use the Word form for amendments if your application was processed in the old system. See the guidance on amendments.

Recent updates:

Please complete our survey for applicants on the change to the new ethics system. Survey open until 6 December 2025.
There has been a recent update to the system interface. Please see the Moodle courses for more information and videos.

If your research involves human participants, their data or samples, then ethical review and approval is mandatory and must be obtained before starting your research.

Any material which you collect but for which you do not have ethical approval may not be publishable or allowed in your project; for students, if your dissertation or thesis fails to include evidence of ethical approval, then it could be failed. Also, failure to obtain ethical approval for research involving the recording of personal data may mean that the research is unlawful in terms of data protection.

Failure to obtain and adhere to ethical approvals is defined as research misconduct.

Ethical review application

Information on the process of applying for ethical approval or amendments, including for collaborative projects, research taking place as part of a teaching module, and research involving human tissues or cell lines.

Applications for ethical review of research funders

Information on the process of applying for ethical approval of research funders, required when a funding body is not on the University’s pre-approved list.