Research ethics

London Metropolitan University is committed to ensuring the highest possible ethical standards in the research conducted by its staff and students. Staff and postgraduate research students must obtain ethics clearance before embarking upon research projects.

Research students should in all cases complete the Student Research Ethics Application form. Upon completion the form should be submitted to the appropriate School Research Ethics Review Panel (RERP) via the links under the Ethics section of the Doctoral Studies Weblearn module.

Members of staff should complete either a Research Ethics Tier 1 Application - Staff or a Research Ethics Tier 2 Application - Staff depending on the nature of the research. Upon completion the form should be submitted to the appropriate School Research Ethics Review Panel (RERP) via the links under the Ethics section of the Staff Research Development Weblearn organisation.

Tier 1 research ethics applications are suitable for staff research projects where minimal ethical or legal issues are anticipated to arise, and where there is minimal risk to the researcher, any other person, the University or partner organisations. This might include for example scholarly work, library or archival research and some creative practice-based research in arts, architecture, or critical and theoretical disciplines.

Tier 2 research ethics applications should be used in all other cases. If you are unsure which ethics application form you need to submit for your project, please contact the appropriate RERP chair from the list below.

Further guidance for completing research ethics applications and for research ethics in general can be found on both the Staff Research Development Weblearn organisation and Doctoral Students Weblearn module.