ERF application – Undergraduate student
Undergraduate students writing a dissertation involving research participants or using protected data will need to seek ethical approval from the Ethics, Risk and Fieldwork (ERF) Committee. The department’s policy is that undergraduate students are only allowed to work with non-vulnerable adult participants in their dissertation research.
Please note: Undergraduate students conducting interviews/focus groups may need to be supervised, and must provide the details of this person (who does not need to be the dissertation supervisor) when completing the form.
Students should discuss with their supervisor whether working with adult participants or confidential data is appropriate for their research and how to address the ethical considerations and possible risks involved to the student. If they are planning to go ahead with these aspects of the research based on these discussions, they should then submit an ethical approval application and (if needed) a risk assessment.
Further information and supporting documents
More information on ethical considerations and ethical approval considerations can be found here. More information on risk assessment is available here.
Applications for ethical approval to work with human participants require the submission of the following supporting information: a draft of the participant project information sheet (example available here) and a draft of participant consent form (template available here).
Deadlines
Deadlines for applications are indicated here.
Submitting the application
Please click on the box(es) below to download the relevant application form:
The completed form(s) need to be returned to ugradadmin@polis.cam.ac.uk.
Amendment form
Please use if the nature of your research has changed and you want to make minor amendments, or if the ERF committee have asked you to make amendments to your submitted application. Amendment form here.