Research Ethics

NCI Research Ethics Process and Procedures for research with Human Participants

The NCI Ethics Committee functions as a subcommittee of the Research Committee. It holds 4 meetings across the year.

As set out in NCI's Research Ethics Policy, NCI requires that research with human participants must be appropriately ethically reviewed.

All research involving human participants conducted by NCI staff and students must receive ethics approval prior to commencement of the research.

Student applications (undergraduate and graduate) are reviewed by ‘Filter Committees’. Filter Committees sit within each school for student applications and should be contacted if you have any queries for student research.

For staff research projects, applications can be made to the Ethics Subcommittee.

Application Forms

Guidance

Am I conducting Research?

Research can be of different kinds, it is an attempt to derive generalisable new knowledge by addressing clearly-defined questions/inquiry and rigorous methods with systematic. Research designs and types vary depending on the discipline of study.

What is Research Ethics?

Research Ethics involves following principles that will protect the rights, dignity and well-being of research participants. It involves demonstrating that the research design, and process and dissemination of scientific research follows the principles of research ethics, such as beneficence, justice and respect for the autonomy of research participants.

What is the structure of the NCI Ethics Committee?

The Research Ethics Committee acts as a Sub Committee of the NCI Reseach Committee. It comprises of at least 5 representatives from the Schools of Computing and School of Business & Humanities, including representatives from ELI (Early learning Initiaive and the Research Committee.

What is the role of the Research Ethics Sub Committee?

The purpose of the committee is to safe guard against potential harm to participants and to ensure that their rights are recognised in line with the guiding principles. The subcommittee reviews all research proposals posing an ethical risk to the participants involved.

What is a research ethics review?

A research ethics review is a process carried out by the Research Ethics Sub Committee, that examines if a research follows ethical procedures and abides by the principles of ethics in research with human participants.

Research ethics will look for answers to the following questions:

How will participants safety and dignity be ensured?
What data is required and is it stored securely?
Do participants in the research understand what is involved for them?
What are the risks and benefits of the research?

How will my proposal be reviewed?

If I am a student (undergraduate or graduate) at NCI, a Filter Committee will first review your proposal.

If I am a NCI staff member who wants to conduct a study involving Human participants, I should submit the relevant Ethical Risk review Application Form. The review will result in a graded categorisation of ethical risk.