Ethical Approval

If a student plans to do research involving human participants, whether directly or indirectly - e.g. interviews, questionnaires, focus groups, observations, accessing personal data about individuals, any human biological materials - then the research must be independently ethically reviewed and approved BEFORE the student begins data gathering. The supervisor is responsible for ensuring that this takes place. Failure to gain ethics approval may result in the student´s dissertation or thesis being failed or deemed ineligible for submission. Guidance on the different routes for obtaining ethics approval, and when each applies, is available from the University's central research ethics website, along with the University's full Research Ethics Policy and broader guidance on ethical issues.