The University is committed to advancing and safeguarding high quality academic and ethics standards in all its activities. Therefore where appropriate, research in the department should be undertaken in accordance with recognised research ethics practice. This is especially true for research activities that involve human participants, data and tissue or research activities that involve animals. Research on animals requires a Home Office license.
The Ethics Policy clarifies the conditions under which research with human participants, data and tissue is acceptable. All University members of staff and University registered students (i.e. postgraduate, postgraduate taught and undergraduate) who plan to undertake research which involves participants and / or their data and / or their tissue need to obtain ethics approval for the planned research, prior to the involvement of the participants, via the ethics review procedure. The primary responsibility for considering, respecting and safeguarding the dignity, rights, safety and well being of participants involved in research lies with the lead researcher (e.g. Principal Investigator, Supervisor).
For information related to the ethics review procedure, visit the University’s central research ethics website: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/rs/ethicsandintegrity
The Ethics Policy should be read in conjunction with the University’s Good Research Practice Standards (the GRIPP policy) and with the University’s Procedure on Investigating and Responding to Allegations of Research Misconduct Against University Staff.
Information on your ethical obligations as a student with us can be found in the Assessment section of the handbook.