Research Ethics and Integrity

We have an Ethics Filter Committee and consider ethical applications from staff, PhD researchers and taught postgraduate or undergraduate students. The Chair of the Law Filter Committee is Dr Anne Smith.

The University’s policies and related ethics forms are available online, along with the different categories of research involving human participants.

Research in Category A can be approved by the Ethics Filter Committee. Research in Category B needs to go to the Filter Committee and the University Ethics Committee. Most research in our unit either does not involve human subjects or fits into Category A or B.

Note that before submitting to the Filter Committee, researchers need to secure a peer review of proposed research using form RG2; this peer review should be carried out by a staff member not part of the research team. The Filter Committee can expedite this and conduct the peer review itself if the Chair approves.

The Committee considers applications throughout the year, so please do contact the Chair to discuss a submission. Bear in mind also that the Filter Committee may need to refer some applications also to the University Ethics Committee (UREC).

UREC meets about 10 times a year to consider applications. Typically they interview researchers about their proposals; one of the supervisors must attend UREC with the PHD researcher as it is the supervisor who is the PI/Co-I on the submission. The deadlines are available at the website above.

Ethics forms

For ethical approval there are several different documents you will need to prepare. At a minimum they usually include:

  • The RG1A form
  • A research protocol. The research protocol needs to be about 3-5 pages and include a short background, the aims / objectives  of the research, details on the methodology (including case selection,  methods and data analysis) and a short bibliography.
  • An interview schedule detailing questions; these may be indicative and it may be that you need different sets of questions if you are interviewing different types of participant.
  • A participant information sheet. This explains the research in terms a non-specialist can understand, and outlines the participant’s role in the research, and who is doing the research.
  • A consent form.

The peer reviewer will need to complete an RG2 form before the ethics application can go to the Filter Committee.

Law Research Area

We are an international and multidisciplinary team of researchers addressing contemporary legal problems including how law deals with the transition from conflict or oppression (transitional justice), how to use the law to promote social justice and protect human rights, how new technologies are affecting the legal professions.

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Law

Our law research excels in multiple areas, addressing major societal challenges at local and global levels.