Research and knowledge exchange ethics

The University is guided by the fundamental principle that research involving humans and/or animals and/or the environment should involve no more than minimal risk of harm to physical or psychological well-being.

The University is committed to protecting the rights, dignity, health, safety and privacy of research participants, the welfare of animals and the integrity of the environment. The University is also committed to protecting the health, safety, rights and academic freedom of researchers and the reputation of the University as a centre for properly conducted, high quality research.

This University facilitates a research ethics process to ensure that its research and knowledge exchange (KE) activity is conducted according to appropriate ethical considerations, while also following standards of professional practice and wider legal obligations. The Code of Practice Governing the Ethical Conduct of Research includes principles designed to provide safeguards for researchers, participants and others working on the research and KE activity.:

The University also has a stand-alone policy for security sensitive research and KE activity, including a guidance note for researchers:

The University uses the Virtual Research Environment system for the management and review of research and knowledge exchange governance and ethics. The system is automated to capture potential risks of harm and non-ethical compliance issues for research involving an external organisation. The system allows for auditing and monitoring of research.

Why is it important to consider research and KE ethics?

The ethical implications of the research or KE activity should be considered from the earliest stages of the proposal design in order to consider the benefit of such research or activity and any potential harms of the proposed work. This would allow sufficient consideration to be given to any mitigating measures needed, to prevent, or reduce and manage any potential harms at the design stage.

Research and Knowledge Exchange Ethics is an ongoing consideration and needs to be considered, understood and applied by the researcher to the entire research life-cycle, revisited as appropriate and intermittently, including from inception, proposal, data collection, writing, publication and dissemination of results.

In addition to adhering to the University framework governing good practice in research, University of Westminster researchers are also expected to be familiar with their obligations in relation to professional, statutory and regulatory bodies and to keep up-to-date with developments in these areas.

For more information around consideration of ethical issues, please see our Researcher Development Hub.

The ethical consideration process at the University

Consideration of ethical implications is required for all research & knowledge exchange activity via the Virtual Research Environment (VRE) Research and Knowledge Exchange Ethics Self-Assessment form (known as Form Part A), prior to commencement of any work with ethical implications, in line with good research practice. This allows the researcher to document that due consideration was given to ethical issues and a record of this is maintained, even where risk issues are minimal or none.

Where the VRE designates the work as low risk, an ethics review is not necessarily required by a Research Ethics Committee (REC) unless there are requirements of a professional body, funder, regulatory authority, or publisher etc.

Where a self-assessment form requires the completion of a full Research and Knowledge Exchange Ethics Application Form (known as Form Part B)Go to VRE site, the researcher is required to submit this to the relevant REC. This is also necessary for research where review or approval is outside the remit of the University’s own Ethics Committees (such as work falling under the Health Research Authority’s (HRA’s) remit) but which should still be provided to the University’s own Research and Knowledge Exchange Ethics Committee (UREC) for an initial light touch review prior to submission to an external ethics review body. This will also capture any governance issues which need to be addressed prior to external submission outside of the University. Work involving Sponsorship in line with the UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research must also be submitted to UREC even if there is no requirement for HRA NHS REC review or governance approvals.

It is important to note, that where research is considered to have lower ethical implications resulting in a potentially low risk of harms, there may still be a need for compliance with internal policies, external policies, legislation and regulatory requirements which are beyond the remit of the University’s RECs but which may still necessitate the need for approvals elsewhere at the University.

Work-flow and research classifications

In order to see the various classifications for research as defined by the University’s Code of Practice Governing the Ethical Conduct of Research and the routes an Ethics Application should take for consideration or review, please see the chart below:

University Research and Knowledge Exchange Ethics Committee (UREC)

The UREC operates as the strategic and oversight body responsible for the implementation of the Code of Practice Governing the Ethical Conduct of Research and its periodic review and revision. The UREC is also responsible for training and development of the University’s researchers in matters related to research ethics. The UREC reports directly to the University’s Research and Knowledge Exchange Steering Committee (a University level Committee reporting and accountable to Academic Council). The UREC has devolved review of most classifications of research, except the potentially most serious in terms of potential risks of harm or risks to the reputation of the University, including the reputation of the researcher. Work which requires a light-touch internal ethics review in order to apply consistency of quality and standards and ensure compliance with governance issues, is also provided to UREC (such as work requiring approval from Ministry of Defence, Health Research Authority and similar).\

Information regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and research projects.

Contacts

There are three College Research and Knowledge Exchange Ethics Committees (CRECs), one for each College: