Staff (ERF)

ERF application – Staff member

In principle, all research by staff members involving human participants and/or sensitive or confidential information requires ethical approval, while any travel for research (including attending conferences) outside Cambridge requires the approval of a risk assessment.

Please note: Staff members can make use of the university’s travel insurance only if the risk assessment for their trip has been approved by the department.

For more information on ethical approval, see the Ethics page. For more information on risk assessment, see the Risk page.

If you have any questions about ethical approval or risk assessments, then please contact the Chair of the ERF Committee (via ERF@polis.cam.ac.uk).

Supporting documents

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

There are no specific deadlines for applications by staff members but please give the committee more than 1 week's notice to review an application before travel dates.

Staff should complete the Ethical Approval form before the research commences and with sufficient time for any feedback from the committee to be incorporated. This should preferably be done even earlier, before a research funding application is submitted, in order to allow time for any feedback from the committee to be incorporated at application stage. It is, however, recognised that this may not always be practical.

A Risk Assessment should be submitted through the Peregrine Foresight system (see link below) and approved before the related travel occurs.

If you have any questions about this process and the documents required, please contact the secretary of the ERF committee via ERF@polis.cam.ac.uk for advice.

Please select the relevant form(s) here:

Risk Assessment Form
Ethics Application - Staff Member

Completed forms should be sent to ERF@polis.cam.ac.uk.

Amendment forms

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.