Research integrity means conducting research in a manner that evidences the highest possible professional standards and quality. This is applicable across the full research process, including planning and conducting, recording and report dissemination, and application. The University is a signatory to the Universities UK Concordat to Support Research Integrity (2019) and is committed to its five core principles.
Research ethics represents one critical aspect of integrity, focusing on the principles of respect for persons, equality, informed consent, confidentiality, and avoidance of conflicts of interest.
This page contains the University of Cumbria's policies, practices, and guidance on research integrity and ethics with a view to promoting best practices in the ethical conduct of research..
Research Integrity
Our staff and students must maintain high professional standards through the conduct of their research. The University has policies and procedures in place to ensure this, outlined in the University's Code of Practice for Research. This Code sets out the principles of good conduct in research to be adhered by and directly supports the University's commitment to the Universities UK Concordat to Support Research Integrity (2019).
Support To Staff and Students
The first point of contact for anyone wanting more information on matters of research integrity is the Head of Research & Knowledge Exchange, Anish Kurien.
The Head of Research & Knowledge Exchange is the confidential liaison for whistle-blowers or any other person wishing to raise concerns about the integrity of research being conducted at the University. The process for dealing with allegations of research misconduct is outlined in section 5.1 of the Code of Practice for Research). Allegations of misconduct in research must be provided in writing to Anish Kurien.
Research governance is provided through our Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee of which the Research Ethics Panel is a sub-group.
In line with the requirements of the Concordat to Support Research Integrity, the University’s Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee reviews and approves an annual statement summarising how research integrity is promoted and supported, including details of related activities undertaken across the University. This statement also includes anonymised information about how allegations of misconduct in research have been assessed and investigated. This information is also provided to University Board. This statement is available here Research Integrity Statement 23-24.
Research Ethics
The University of Cumbria expects that all university researchers will uphold the highest possible standards of research integrity , as clarified in the Code of Practice for Research. This applies to all staff, postgraduate researchers (PGRs) and their supervisors, and all student researchers reading for taught degrees and their supervisors. As a core element of this integrity, formal ethics approval is prospectively required for all research activities that directly involve humans, human tissue, data relating to humans, animals, data where intellectual property is unclear, matters that could impact upon the university’s reputation and others indicated below, and in the formal Research Ethics Policy.
It is the responsibility of a Principal Investigator (PI) or a PGR’s lead supervisor to determine whether ethics review of a project is required from the UoC Research Ethics Panel (REP).
It is the responsibility of Research Module Leaders on undergraduate and postgraduate taught degree programmes to provide an appropriate framework for ethically reviewing student projects, and the responsibility of a student’s research supervisor to determine whether ethical approval is required.
Conducting research at any level without necessary ethics approval will be considered research misconduct, which will be investigated in all cases.
Immediately below is some key information that might help UoC staff and PGRs understand and navigate the UoC ethics process for most types of research.
While teaching teams are responsible for the management of research ethics on taught programmes, much of this information might nevertheless prove useful in design and decision-making.
What does the Research Ethics Panel do?
The purpose of ethics review is to help secure the safety and wellbeing of participants and researchers alike. To these ends, the Research Ethics Panel (REP) is responsible for ensuring that proposed research submitted for consideration meets required ethical standards, and that feedback to applicants will help support and develop their understanding of good ethical research conduct. The REP is primarily concerned with research undertaken by University staff, on any form of contract, and postgraduate research students.
How long does it take to get ethical approval?
The UoC REP recommends that four to six weeks is allowed for initial review. This is to make certain that the reviewers, who evaluate ethics applications around their own workloads, have sufficient time to give all applications the attention they warrant. The duration until to final approval, meanwhile, is contingent upon the quality of the submitted forms, the complexity of the proposed project, the range of amendments requested and so forth.
It is entirely the responsibility of the applicant(s) to submit all necessary materials to the REP in good time, so that any data collection can start as planned, and only after ethics approval has been obtained.
In cases where ethics approval for the research has already been secured via another HEI or similarly reputable body (e.g. the NHS), a full UoC application is not necessary. Rather, the PI should simply complete the following form to register the study with the UoC Research Office.
What kinds of research need ethics review?
As per the Research Ethics Policy, ethics review is required for any research which involves any one or more of the features below:
Human participants, including all types of interviews, observation, surveys/questionnaires, focus groups, experiments and quasi-experiments etc.
Materials that could potentially identify human participants, i.e. sensitive/unredacted personal data.
Human cells or tissues, other than those established in laboratory cultures.
Animals
Clear risk to members of the research team, such as lone-working or chance of physical/emotional distress.
Social media and/or online datasets from sources that could be regarded as private, and/or where Acceptable Usage Policies are complex, and issues of Intellectual Property / ownership may need to be checked and/or monitored.
Active and/or potential threat(s) to the environment.
Potential conflict(s) of interest.
Research topics, methodologies, outputs, research partners and/or research funding sources that could be considered controversial, with reputational implications for the institution.
NHS Research Ethics Committees (RECs) review research taking place in or through the NHS, and other health and social care research. Projects potentially requiring NHS ethics review and clearance should firstly follow the most recent guidance provided by the Health Research Authority (HRA), and ideally using the HRA’s decision tool. Where NHS REC review is not deemed to be required for a project, then UoC REP review should be sought instead.
What kinds of research are usually exempt from ethics review?
Ethics review is generally deemed unnecessary for projects that clearly do not involve any of the key features listed in the previous section. These typically include:
Systematic, scoping and narrative literature reviews that draw on published academic materials in the public domain and/or behind a publisher’s paywall.
Service evaluations and audits designed and conducted only to define/judge current systems or policy implementation(s), and/or to inform the delivery of system or policy implementation(s), provided that collected data are not to be used for purposes other than those of the core audit/evaluation (e.g. academic conferences and/or publications) at any point at that time or in the future.
Studies that draw on documentary materials already in the public domain, and/or with an explicitly stated Acceptable Usage Policy. For example, published biographies, clinical audits, newspaper accounts of an individual’s activities, published minutes of a meeting, interviews broadcast on radio or television or online and diaries or letters in the public domain, or historical records authorised for public access by record offices.
Non-academic data collection concerning business partnerships, procurement or investment.
Impact projects to gather evidence for REF Impact Case Studies, or other funder reporting requirements, provided that collected data are not to be made available to an audience beyond the research team and/or used for purposes other than impact assessment (e.g. academic conferences and/or publications) at any point at that time or in the future.
The provision of expert advice, where based on existing knowledge (henceforth ‘Consultancy’). The purpose of undertaking consultancy is not manifestly to generate original knowledge, although new information may emerge as an unanticipated latency.
Where it is unclear to the researcher(s) whether a proposed project requires ethical review, they should seek guidance from the Chair of the Research Ethics Panel via the Research Office.
Where it is determined that a project does not need ethical review, the PI should nevertheless complete the following form to register the project with the UoC Research Office.
Tips for a good application
Answer only the questions asked in the form, and do so in the correct places with minimal superfluous information.
Your application will not necessarily be reviewed by subject specialists, so keep the language jargon-free throughout and explain all technical terms and acronyms.
Anything deemed ambiguous or self-contradictory by the reviewers will need amending, so proof-read your application with great care, and be sure that when make a change in one section, that change is reflected everywhere else.
The participant-facing materials (Information Sheet, Consent Questions and Debrief) are the most important part of the application. They must be in language completely appropriate for your participants, and also free of any ambiguity or self-contradiction. If a participant does not fully comprehend the information provided, then any consent they register will be of questionable (legal) validity.
Similarly, the participant-facing materials must be of professional appearance, and be fully checked for spelling, grammar and punctuation. These will be in the public realm, and therefore reputational issues for all involved institutions (as well as the researchers) will be in play.
Prior to submitting, obtain peer-review from someone external to your research team, who has ideally made a recent successful ethics application of their own. They will be in an ideal position to evaluate your application, and let you know what the reviewers asked of theirs.
Be sure to have undertaken all available UoC ethics training.
Research Ethics Approval Process - Staff & Postgraduate Students
To acquire ethical approval for research projects involving human participants or other live subjects, an application must be made to the Research Ethics Panel using the forms below. This is then independently scrutinised by two panel members and a decision made by the Chair and issued to the applicant in writing.
Ethics Process
The below application form for staff and postgraduate research students must be completed and submitted to research.office@cumbria.ac.uk.
Research Ethics Approval Process - Undergraduate & Postgraduate Taught
For undergraduate students and those on postgraduate taught programmes, ethical approval should be sought by submitting the form below through relevant departmental procedures (usually your supervisor for initial consideration and agreement followed by your subject programme lecturers identified as reviewing research ethics applications).
The templates below are new for the 2024/25 academic year, and contain considerably more guidance (and examples) than the previous models. While the REP will be happy to receive submissions using the old templates until the end of 2024, it will be expected that the new versions will become default for staff research from January 2025. For student research, we would expect them to become default by the beginning of the 2025/26 academic year. As noted on the templates themselves, please be sure that all coloured text providing direction and examples is deleted before submission.
Research integrity is the responsibility of the Director of Applied Research & Knowledge Exchange.
The Head of Research & Knowledge Exchange, Anish Kurien, can also be contacted for anyone wanting more information on matters of research integrity.
As set out in our Code of Practice for Research, allegations of misconduct in research must be provided in writing to Director of Applied Research & Knowledge Exchange.
Integrity and Ethics Training
The University offers the following training resources on ethics and integrity. Training is available annually to staff and postgraduate research students via Research Skills Development Programme – ‘Ethical Research and Ethical Approval session. This can be booked via the Research & Knowledge Exchange StaffHub page and BlackBoard. Specific training for Research Supervisors is available via the Research Supervisor Workshops & Research Integrity, Ethics, and the Role of the Supervisor. This can be booked via the Research & Knowledge Exchange StaffHub page. It is compulsory for all staff to complete the following mandatory training: