Research ethics

Research ethics approval is required at Anglia Ruskin University and our associate colleges for all research with human participants and some other types of research (for example, involving human tissue, the environment or artefacts). Our students and staff all have to follow the same ethical review procedure. If any external researchers wish to carry out research involving our students, staff or premises, permission is required for this.

Please note, this does not constitute ethical approval, nor will ARU undertake an ethical review of the research.

For general queries, please contact Julie Scott, Research Ethics and Integrity Manager: [email protected].

To assist with ethics approval, please send the below documents to Julie Scott:

  • a justification for why Anglia Ruskin staff/students need to be recruited for the research
  • a copy of the ethical approval letter
  • a copy of the ethical application form
  • details of the recruitment methods to be used and copies of recruitment documents such as information sheets, consent forms, posters, etc
  • evidence that permission has been granted from the area/s you wish to recruit through (if appropriate)
  • assurance that suitable insurance arrangements are in place for the study as Anglia Ruskin would not be liable for the research.

You will receive a response about whether your research can go ahead at the earliest opportunity.

We take ethical approval seriously as it is important that participants and the public have confidence in our research. All researchers have to complete an ethics application form; the responses given determine the risk-category of the research and the subsequent level of scrutiny by one of our ethics committees. For some types of research, eg NHS, approval by their committees is required and we accept this as equivalent to our own.

We have an ethics policy and Code of Practice for Applying for Ethical Approval which is available, along with ethics application forms and other guidance, on our internal ethics website. There is mandatory ethics training to help researchers with the ethical review process and ethical dilemmas which may arise following approval.

The importance of adhering to the principles of research integrity throughout the life-cycle of a research project is also recognised. ARU is a member of the UK Research Integrity Office (UKRIO) and has made a commitment to comply with the principles of the Concordat to Support Research Integrity. For our annual statement on research integrity, please see: https://aru.ac.uk/research/research-environment/research-ethics-and-integrity