Wednesday 5th November (committee meeting: Wednesday 26th November)
Wednesday 7th January (committee meeting: Wednesday 28th January)
Wednesday 4th March (committee meeting: Wednesday 25th March)
Wednesday 6th May (committee meeting: Wednesday 27th May)
Wednesday 24th June (committee meeting: Wednesday 15th July)
Decisions will typically be sent to applicants within 2-3 weeks of the committee meeting.
Please note that retrospective ethical approval is not permitted under any circumstances under the University's Code of Practice and Principles for Good Ethical Governance.
To ensure high-quality and considered review, there is a strong expectation that researchers submit applications within our review cycle. However, out of cycle review is possible in exceptional circumstances. For example in cases where a research opportunity will be lost if applicants have to wait for a decision at the next meeting (whether due to funding or other temporal constraints). If your application meets these conditions, please submit an application following the standard process, explaining the exceptional circumstances.
During this transition period, the committee will accept applications which are submitted using forms developed by either the ELMPS ethics committee or the SPSW ethics committee, though the contact details on these forms should be updated to socsci-ethics@york.ac.uk. In the course of academic year 2025/26, new forms will be developed.
Most applications will include three elements:
Application Form (updated ELMPS form / updated SPSW form)
Participant Information Sheet (updated ELMPS form / updated SPSW form, including data information sheet)
Example Consent form (updated ELMPS form / updated SPSW form, including guidance)
These elements should be submitted as a single PDF document to socsci-ethics@york.ac.uk.
In some cases (for example where ethical approval is required but there are no direct human participants, or where cultural norms militate against it) the information sheet and consent form may not be required. If you are unsure, please check with your departmental rep(s).
NB: If you are conducting a survey, it will be sufficient to provide information about the project in an appropriate format for the survey and a clear link to the Privacy Notice. You may also use the start of the survey to gain consent.
The revised version of the GDPR compliant PIS template comprises two separate documents (i) the information to be provided about the specific project and (ii) the University’s generic privacy notice.
For potentially high-risk data processing, please consult the Data Protection Impact Assessment website.