Human Ethics Review

If you are a student, your application will need to be delegated to your supervisor for their review and comment (if needed) prior to submission. Once your supervisor is satisfied with your submission they will submit the application on your behalf to the next stage - this confirms supervisor endorsement.

Upon submission of all new HRE applications, the application will be delegated to the relevant Head of School (or Associate Head/department head) for review and endorsement before it is officially submitted to the Ethics Office. For the correct automated delegation, please ensure you have entered the correct School/Department into the ‘Host department’ question on the ‘Overview’ tab of your ethics application.

If you are a student, you will need to factor in time for 2 checks - one by your supervisor and one by the Head of School. If your supervisor is expecting your application, they may be able to action this quickly for you. 

Upon initial submission of a new HRE application, please allow up to 7 University business days for the Head of School/Associate Head/Department Head review and endorsement process.

Once the School/Department Head endorses your application it will then be submitted to the Ethics Office for Administrative review followed by Ethics review. Note: an application is not officially submitted to the Ethics Office until it has passed through HoS review first.

This review process involves ensuring all HRE application questions have been adequately addressed, and all required documentation is attached. It aims to identify risk level (as per Chapter 2.1 of the National Statement) and check for any missing information, or potential future roadblocks for applicants, to assist in addressing key issues early in the process (e.g., missing information or attachments, incorrect selections relating to participant groups, etc.)

If an application is missing information and/or documentation, the Ethics Office may be unable to assess the level of risk adequately and will need to return the application back to the research team for further information before the ethics review process can take place.

Once your application has been submitted to the Ethics Office (following HoS endoresment), please allow up to 20 University business days for this administrative review and risk evaluation to be conducted. You will be notified if you application requires further information before progressing to the next stage.

Research that is deemed to be 'minimal' or 'low' risk and does not fall under any of the National Statement chapters listed for a full HREC review, can be sent to the expedited review process.

The expedited review process is completed by at least two experienced people (drawn from a small pool of 5 people consisting of the HREC Chair, Deputy Chairs, and the Ethics Coordinators).  

Expedited review is an ongoing process that operates between February and November - Lower risk applications can be submitted to the Ethics Office at any time during the period of operation.

Please allow up to 40 University business days for an expedited review to occur. If changes are required, your application will receive an outcome of either, 'Subject to modifications' or ‘Not approved (resubmit permitted)' and will be returned to you with feedback provided. The feedback will need to be addressed by the research team and the application re-submitted to the Ethics Office for further review to ensure feedback has been sufficiently addressed and the application satisfies approval. Please allow up to 20 University business days for the review of re-submitted applications. 

Research that is deemed to be 'greater than low risk' or 'high risk' will be referred to the next available HREC meeting. Your application will be reviewed via the full HREC on the meeting day.

HREC meetings occur 10 times throughout the year between the months February and November. Once the meeting for which your application was referred to has taken place, please allow up to 15 University Business days following the meeting for an outcome to be provided. If your application receives a 'subject to modifications' outcome, your re-submission will be reviewed in office by the HREC Chair to ensure the HREC review feedback has been addressed. If your application receives a ‘not approve (resubmit permitted)’ outcome, your re-submission will need to be referred to the next available HREC meeting for full HREC review again.

If assessed as exempt, the Ethics Office will review the application to ensure all details provided sufficiently meet the exemption criteria before formally granting exemption. This process is completed by two experienced people (drawn from a small pool of 5 people consisting of the HREC Chair, Deputy Chairs, and the Ethics Coordinators).

Please allow 20 University business days for this process to occur. If necessary, changes to your application may be requested by the Ethics Office to ensure your project sufficiently meets the exemption criteria.