Ethical Considerations
Ethics approval is needed for all research involving human participants, human tissue or data from which individuals could be identifiable. You can learn more about this here: Research ethics (including CUREC) | Research Support (ox.ac.uk)
While some research obviously needs research ethics approval, in some cases this is not straightforward. The flow chart on the page below helps you determine whether or not you need ethics approval:
Where and how to apply for ethical review | Research Support (ox.ac.uk)
How do you apply for research ethics approval?
Please be mindful that it can take at least 30 days for you to secure Research Ethics approval in cases where your research does not entail complex ethical issues, and at least 60 days for cases where it does (such issues could include, but are not limited to, recruitment of people whose ability to give free and informed consent is in question, risk to participants of criminal prosecution or use of deception methodology).
As the Faculty of Law does not have its own Research Ethics Committee, all staff and students in Law must apply to the Social Sciences and Humanities Interdivisional Research Ethics Committee (SSH IDREC).
From October 2024, this is done online through the Worktribe Ethics system.
Please make sure to go over the below documents when preparing your Research Ethics application:
- Read the Worktribe Ethics Applicant Guide.
- Download the Faculty Worktribe guidance, on how the online system will work for the Law Faculty.
- Read the Social Sciences and Humanities Division advice on how to prepare a Research Ethics application. Further resources for researchers preparing an application are available on the University Research Services webpages.
Support is available:
The Faculty's Research Support Team can help you in preparing your Research Ethics application and/or with any questions you may have.
Please get in touch with us if you would like us to assist you:
Karen Eveleigh (Senior Research Facilitator and Law Research Ethics Officer).
and/or
Armando Román Zozaya (Head of Research and Deputy HoAF).