Ethics clearance

ECU has a commitment to ensure the conduct of ethical research by staff and students. Ethics is important to ensure:

• the humane care of animals used for scientific purposes, including teaching;
• protection of the welfare and the rights of human participants.

Ethics approval protects participants (human or animal), the researcher, the University and the community in general.

Unit Licence OR Individual Student Ethics Application?

Teaching staff are recommended to determine prior to semester start if their unit will require completion of a unit licence or individual student application for ethics approval.

The Unit Licence

Students may be required to undertake collection of information, data or samples as part of the teaching or assessment of a unit. The Unit Licence is not ethics approval – it is granted to the Unit Coordinator who undertakes to ensure the data collection from participants by students enrolled in an undergraduate/post graduate unit is conducted in an ethical manner. Applications for Unit Licences need to be submitted to the Faculty Research & Higher Degrees Committee for approval.

Refer to the Application for Unit Licence Guidelines and the Unit Licence Application Form.

The Unit Licence does not cover data collected for the purpose of later publication, data collected for a research contract, or students undertaking a research project for the purposes of an Honours or higher degree. 

For more information please refer to the following documentation to assist in the preparation of your Unit Licence documentation:

• Unit Licence FAQ;
• Information Letter and Informed Consent Template; and
• Ethical Risk Assessment.

Research projects and ethics approval

All researchers, staff or students, undertaking individual research project intended for later publication, data collection for a research contract or for an Honours, Master by Research, DBA or PhD at ECU must either:

• submit an Ethics Declaration Form for approval; or
• submit an Application for Ethics Approval – with all supporting documentation to the appropriate ethics committee (refer below)

Ethics declaration form

This form is for research projects that do not involve:

• human participants; or
• previously collected identified or potentially identifiable samples or data; or
• the use of animals for scientific purposes

The Ethics Declaration Form can be completed online via STREAM.

Application for ethics approval

An application is required for research projects involving:

• human participants; or
• previously collected identified or potentially identifiable samples or data; or
• the use of animals for scientific purposes.

Applicants should review the University's Ethics web site for further information before applying for ethics approval. 

Students should ensure the ethics process is built into their research plan as it can take up to six weeks for applications to be reviewed and approved by the HREC and two weeks by the Faculty of Business and Law Ethics Sub Committee.

* Note - approval of the research proposal is a separate process to ethics approval. Notification of approval must be received prior to the commencement of the research project.

All approved research projects are approved subject to compliance with monitoring procedures.

Who do I submit the ethics application to?

Applications for ethics approval should be submitted via STREAM from where they will be forwarded to:

The Human Research Ethics Committee for:

• Masters by Research;
• Professional Doctorate; and
• PhD.

The application must be submitted PRIOR to the commencement of any recruitment of participants or data collection. Students should complete the application online via STREAM in collaboration with their supervisor. Refer to the University's Human Research and Ethics Procedures web site to download appropriate documents.

For submission, advice and guidance, contact:

Kim Gifkins, University Research Ethics Officer
Telephone: (61 8) 6304 2170
E-mail: research.ethics@ecu.edu.au

OR

The Faculty of Business and Law Ethics Subcommittee for:

• All LOW RISK Ethics Applications for Undergraduate, Honours and Masters by Coursework students; and
• All Unit Licence Applications.

For advice and guidance, contact the Faculty Research Coordinator.