External ethics reviewers

Introduction

Certain types of research (e.g. social care research; research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council) require the involvement of an independent, external individual as part of the ethical review panel.  To address this need, the University Research Ethics Committee (supported by Research, Partnerships & Innovation) recruits a pool of external individuals to undertake ethical reviews on a volunteer basis.

What does the role involve?

Individuals appointed as external ethics reviewers will normally be asked to consider around 3-4 ethics applications per year.  Ethics applications consist of an application form, plus supporting documents, which usually include participant information sheet(s) and consent form(s).  The length of application forms, and the number of supporting documents, will vary depending on the complexity of the research project. It is therefore difficult to confirm the length of time required for each review, but a very rough estimate is 1-2 hours per review.  The distribution of reviews is managed by the UREC’s Minute Secretary, who aims to distribute the work as fairly as possible between reviewers, and to avoid sending multiple requests within a short timeframe.

Since external individuals do not have access to the University’s online Ethics Application System, ethics applications are provided via email using a University account set up for this purpose. External reviewers are asked to consider the proposed research, as set out in the application form and supporting documents, from the point of view of the participants in the research. This is undertaken remotely and individually (i.e. there is normally no actual discussion/meeting with other reviewers). 

Reviewers are asked to state on an online comments form whether they think the research can be approved to go ahead, whether they think changes must be made before it goes ahead, or whether they think it should never go ahead. Additional comments/explanation can be provided (e.g. regarding what changes need to be made). The decision and comments will then be uploaded to the ethics application in the University’s ethics system by the UREC’s Minute Secretary.   

The recommended decision and comments are considered by the ‘Lead Reviewer’ (an internal member of staff), along with the recommendations and comments from any other reviewers, in order to make a final decision regarding the outcome of the review. 

In addition to the above, there is the potential to apply for the role of lay member of the University Research Ethics Committee. Further details will be provided if and when a vacancy becomes available.

What training and support is available?

Whilst external reviewers are not expected to have a detailed knowledge of research ethics, it is helpful to have a broad understanding of the University’s ethics review procedure, and of the general principles of research ethics as set out in the University’s Ethics Policy Governing Research Involving Human Participants, Personal Data and Human Tissue. 

In order to provide a general introduction to this, all new external reviewers are invited to attend a workshop for ethics reviewers; these are run either online or in person on a regular basis by the UREC.  In addition, the UREC holds occasional meetings specifically for our external ethics reviewers, at which training activities are undertaken along with updates on any issues of relevance to reviewers, and opportunities to ask questions and raise any issues. We aim to make these meetings available to attend both in person and online.  Reasonable expenses for the in person attendance of these sessions can be claimed and refreshments are provided.

Further guidance and information is also available from the University’s internal ethics web pages, and the UREC’s Secretary and Minute Secretary, both based in Research, Partnerships & Innovation, are available for help and support:

UREC Minute Secretary - Anita Kenny (a.j.kenny@sheffield.ac.uk)

UREC Secretary - Lindsay Unwin (l.v.unwin@sheffield.ac.uk)

Person specification for the role

To become an external reviewer for the University, individuals must meet the following criteria:

• External to the University – i.e. not a staff member or student, and not paid by the University for any role/activity.
• Sound judgement, integrity and high ethical standards, including a commitment to upholding the University’s principle of respect for research participants’ dignity, rights, safety and well-being.
• A willingness to respond promptly to any requests to consider an application for ethics approval (normally within 10 working days; very occasionally, more urgent requests may be made).
• A commitment to treating the information provided within ethics application documentation as confidential information in line with the UREC’s Data Protection Statement for External Ethics Reviewers. 

If you are interested in applying for the role of external ethics reviewer, please contact Lindsay or Anita via the details provided above.