PSYCHOLOGY ETHICS COMMITTEE

Welcome to the Psychology Ethics Committee home page

The Psychology Ethics Committee is based within the Psychology Department, School of Science, Faculty of Education Health and Sciences.  It is chaired and run by members of staff within the Psychology Department and serves to review and grant ethical approval for any research conducted by staff or postgraduate students within the Department.  It also reviews applications from researchers external to the Department who would like to conduct research using equipment within the Department or would like to recruit Psychology students or staff as participants.

Information on this page will guide you through the ethics application process.  If you have any queries regarding the Ethics Committee or submitting an ethics application, please contact the Chair, Dr Rebecca Knibb (contact details are below).

When do I need to apply for ethical approval?

If you are a member of staff or a postgraduate student within the Psychology Department wishing to undertake ANY piece of research, you will need to apply for ethical approval through this Committee before you can collect data.  If you are a researcher external to the Psychology Department and you wish to conduct any research using psychology students or staff as participants, or would like to use any of the equipment owned by psychology to conduct research, you will need to apply to this Committee before you can collect any data. 

Exceptions to this rule are:

1.  You are a member of staff or a postgraduate student within the Psychology Department and are conducted research where Local NHS Research Ethics Committee approval is being sought.  In this instance the Chair of the Psychology Ethics Committee only requires a copy of the NHS ethics application and a copy of the approval letter for recording and auditing purposes.

2.  You are a researcher external to the University and are conducting collaborative research with a member or members of Psychology staff within the Department and have secured ethical approval for your research at your host Institution.  However, if you intend to run any research project on University of Derby premises you must get ethical approval from the Psychology Ethics Committee at the University of Derby. 

3.  If you are an UG or MSc student of the University of Derby, who is conducting research for their Independent Studies (IS), you will be given ethical approval through the IS ethics committee.  Please see your relevant IS module leader or look at the IS module web page for more information.

Please be aware that you will need to have ethical approval from the Psychology Ethics Committee and be in receipt of your ethics approval form before you can begin to collect any data for your research study.

How do I apply for ethical approval?

You will need to complete an ethics form and return this to the Chair of the Ethics Committee (using the email address below).  In addition to this form, you     will also need to supply any supplementary information, depending on the nature of your study.  This may be copies of any questionnaires you wish to use, information sheets, consent forms or interview questions.

The Committee meets on the first Monday of every month (except during August when the Committee does not meet) and so applications with all supporting documentation need to be received two weeks prior to this date to be reviewed at the meeting.  You will receive your feedback and decision within one week of that meeting (ensuring decisions are returned to applicants within three weeks).  You will receive one of the following decisions from the Committee:

1. Ethical approval granted in full and you can commence data collection immediately.

2.  Clarification on certain points or further documentation may be requested.  Once you have responded to these points you will receive ethical approval via Chairs action (i.e. the application will not need to be reviewed by the next Committee meeting).

3.  Substantial review of the ethics application is needed and it needs to be re-submitted to the next meeting of the Ethics Committee.

4.  Ethics Committee is not able to decide and refers the application to Faculty Research Committee or University Ethics Committee.

5.  Ethics application is denied outright.

(N.B.  It is extremely rare for the Psychology Ethics Committee to be unable to make a decision on an ethics application, refer it or to deny ethical approval outright).

Once a decision has been reached you will receive an ethical approval form.  You will then be able to begin collecting data.

The fast-track process for urgent applications

Under special circumstances, if an ethics application form needs to be fast-tracked through the ethics process due to an imminent grant application deadline or other variable out of the applicant’s control, the Committee will review the application under its fast-track process.  Under these circumstances the applicant is advised to contact the Chair directly and explain the reasons why a fast-track application is needed.  The Committee will then endeavour to process the application within a week.  It must be noted however that the fast-track scheme is ONLY for exceptional circumstances out of the applicant’s control and are granted at the discretion of the Chair of the Ethics Committee.  In all normal circumstances the applicant should submit the application to a normal meeting of the Committee.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE PSYCHOLOGY ETHICS COMMITTEE DOES NOT MEET DURING AUGUST

To down load a copy of the ethics application form please click here.  The form is a word document that you can type directly into.  Please do not complete the form by hand as handwritten forms can not be accepted by the Committee.

Please submit ethics application forms and direct any enquiries to:

Dr Rebecca Knibb
Chair of the Psychology Ethics Committee
Psychology, School of Science
Faculty of Education, Health and Sciences
University of Derby
Derby
DE22 1GB

Tel: 01332 593051
Email: r.c.knibb@derby.ac.uk