Ethics

ethics book

Ethical Approval applications

All members of the Department conducting research must follow the processes outlined below for obtaining ethical approval, or in the case of postgraduate students, confirming that approval is not required.

Any research involving human participants or access to sensitive data will require ethical approval to be obtained in advance of the research being conducted.

The procedure you need to follow depends on whether your research involves certain types of data or human participants, and whether the participants are adults, vulnerable adults or under 18.

As regards to the transcription of interviews, students and staff are recommended to use transcription software that is not embedded within any AI tools. This is to protect the privacy of all those interviewed.

Please use this flowchart to determine the procedure you need to follow for Ethical Approval.

All Students - Download Ethics Flowchart pdf

ERF Flowchart

There are, therefore, four possible ethical approval procedures:

  • (A) Application for Ethical Approval Form: if your research involved adult participants.
  • (VA) Application for Ethical Approval Form: if your research involves 'vulnerable' adult participants. The chart indicates that this applies to any participants ‘unable to give their own informed consent, such as those with a learning disability or cognitive impairment, people who are dependent upon carers, and people who are otherwise behind adult gate keepers’. In our subjects, it can also apply to vulnerable individuals such as victims of violence, refugees, etc. Note that a VA application will need approval from both the department’s ERF Committee and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences’ Ethics Committee.
  • (U18) Application for Ethical Approval Form: if your research involves participants under the age of 18. You should also read the additional Guidance for participants under 18. If you are planning to work with schools or other educational institutions. then they may also have procedures which you must observe.  Note that a U18 application will need approval from both the department’s ERF Committee and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences’ Ethics Committee.
  • (DATA) Application for Ethical Approval Form: if your research involves access to personal, controlled or confidential data.

Please note:

  • More than one of these procedures may apply to a particular research project.
  • The Department does not allow undergraduate students to do research with vulnerable adults or participants under the age of 18.
  • Postgraduate students whose research does not involve participants or use personal, controlled or confidential data will need to submit the online application (but will only need to confirm there that none of the procedures described above apply to them).

Application Forms

  • Students, there is one general online application which will guide them to the appropriate form. For more information, see the pages for undergraduate and postgraduate students.
  • Staff members will need to download the appropriate form, complete it and submit it by email. More information is on the Staff - ERF page.

Further information (especially relevant for postgraduate students)

When planning your research, and before you complete the application form, please consult the following guidance:

When ethical approval is required [Download PDF]

This document is drawn from the ESRC Framework for Research Ethics and lists some of the many types of research which require ethical approval. More information on the  ESCR Framework on Research is available online, and is very useful for researchers. Any research involving human participants will require ethical approval, but some participant groups may require more or less safeguarding.

Points to consider when planning your research [Download PDF]

This list of points to consider includes examples of areas you will need to have explored when planning your research, writing your proposal and submitting your application for ethical approval.

Example detailed research proposal [Download PDF]

This is an example proposal from the ESRC Framework with ethical considerations included.

The Data Protection Act [Download PDF]

  • This is a guide to the principles and how you should ensure you protect personal data you have gathered/are using for your research. This predates 2018 and so has been superseded by GDPR (and the associated 2018 DPA update) in many ways, but the guidance in this document all still applies.

POLIS adheres to University of Cambridge's policies on research standards, including the Policy on the Ethics of Research Involving Human Participants and Personal Data [Download PDF].

The Research Operations Office website on Ethics, Good Practice and Misconduct gives details of how ethical approval is managed within the University as a whole.

The Humanities and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee (HSS REC) reviews complex or high-risk ethics issues in research projects in the arts, humanities and social sciences or cognate areas. All research involving vulnerable adults or participants under 18 will be referred to the HSS REC after consideration by the Department’s Research Ethics Committee. Approval times for such cases will be necessarily longer, subject to the content of the application.