ETHICS IN RESEARCH

If you are planning to undertake research in the Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment you will need to ensure that you have read the latest revision of the EBE EiR Handbook

EBE staff, students, as well as external persons or parties linked to EBE - planning to undertake research, must apply for ethics clearance.

For an overview of ethics application requirements in the Faculty, see:

• Undergraduates
• Postgraduates
• Academic Staff

Extract from EBE Dean's Desk (dated 28 June 2022)

After several months of development and testing, the EBE Ethics-in-Research committee is moving its ethics application processes to the UCT electronic research administration (eRA) system in July 2022. All active researchers in the Faculty, including postgraduate students, are asked to please note the following developments and changes.

All ethics approvals done on Submittable will remain valid. Records are being archived and migrated, but researchers are encouraged to keep a proof of ethics clearance for their own records.

For new applications, there are two options under the ‘Ethics Management’ tab on the eRA system:

1. The pre-screening questionnaire (PSQ) can be used to explore whether a full ethics application is needed. It should also be used for all research projects (research students included) which do not require a full ethics review. Upon a quick review by a designated departmental authority, the PSQ, if approved, results in a formal letter of exemption, which can be submitted with dissertations or provided to funders. If not approved, applicants must make a full ethics application. The PSQ functionality is ready for use and must be used from 1 July 2022 onwards. The equivalent functions on Submittable, via the departmental portals, will then no longer be attended to.
2. The full ethics review process is to be used for all applications that answer at least 1 of the 10 questions in the PSQ in the affirmative. It is not necessary to complete the PSQ before lodging a full ethics review application. We are still doing the last tests on this functionality and are aiming for this to go live by 14 July. In the interim, applications can still be lodged in the EBE EiRC portal on Submittable. A further announcement will follow.

The PSQ asks 10 questions, 8 pertaining to the involvement of human subjects or their data (incl. from social media platforms), 1 question pertaining to artificial intelligence, and 1 question about potential conflicts of interest. Applicants also need to be able to submit their research proposal. Supervisors of research students are properly integrated into the PSQ process and can endorse or reject PSQ applications prior to review, with full sight of the entire submission. As for other eRA processes, approvals are fully digitised – no more adding of signatures to pdf documents. We anticipate that the PSQ will take care of 80-90% of all research ethics applications in the EBE Faculty.

Access eRA here.

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