Training and Guidance

Guidance for Staff

Please consult the relevant user guide in the drop down below first and if you are still unable to find the answer to your query, please contact your Department Ethics Lead (DEL) or Faculty Research Ethics Director (FRED) - their details can be found on the Intranet here.

Supervisors and module tutors can contact the DEL or FRED - their details can be found below.

Alternatively, you can contact the Ethics team at ethicssupport@northumbria.ac.uk. Please quote your project ID from the Ethics Online System.

Guidance for Students

Please consult the relevant user guide in the drop down below first and if you are still unable to find the answer to your query:

If you are an Undergraduate or Postgraduate Taught student, please contact your supervisor or module tutor. 

If you are a Postgraduate Research student, please contact you supervisor.

Alternatively, you can contact the Ethics team at ethicssupport@northumbria.ac.uk. Please quote your project ID from the Ethics Online System.

Chair of the Research Ethics Committee

Professor Louise Bracken, Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange.

Any formal allegations of research misconduct should be made to the Chair of the Research Ethics Committee, as stated in our Management of Research Misconduct Policy.

Head of Research Ethics and Integrity

Laura Hutchinson, Head of Research Culture and Integrity.

Faculty Research Ethics Directors

Arts, Design, and Social Sciences: Professor Alex Ho-Cheong Leung.

Business and Law: Dr Russell Warhurst.

Engineering and Environment: Dr James Nicholson.

Health and Life Sciences: Professor Nick Neave.

Department Ethics Leads

Ethics and Integrity Team

Other members of the Ethics and Integrity team include Gill Drinkald, Research Policy Co-ordinator (Systems and Processes), and Hala Othman, Research Policy Coordinator (Ethics and Researcher Development).

You can read more about the Ethics and Integrity team at Northumbria University on the staff profiles page, here under 'Research Policy', and then 'Research Ethics and Integrity'.

Northumbria University is currently trialling the UK Research Integrity Office’s (UKRIO) new online training, ‘Introduction to Research Integrity’. This offer consists of three modules, covering ‘Introduction to Research Integrity’, ‘Research Integrity in the UK’, and ‘Leading by Example’. These modules aim to outline what the definition of research integrity is and why it matters, the approach to research integrity in the UK, and what it means to lead by example and how to build an environment with a good research integrity culture. The course also provides a resource sheet at the end should you want to complete any further reading after completing the module.

Unfortunately, registrations for this training opportunity closed on Friday 10th May 2024.

For people who previously registered, please follow this link to the training portal to log in to your account. It may look like you are re-registering, but it will have saved your progress and you can resume your training journey.

Postgraduate Research Students are invited to attend the ‘Postgraduate Research Ethics Training’ session. This session is open to all PGR Students regardless of which year of study they may be in. However, for students in their first year, this is a mandatory session that must be completed in your first 12 months, before Annual Progression (Year One), and before data collection or research activity commences. This session is in-person only.

Upcoming dates for the 'PGR Ethics Training' sessions are as below:

Wednesday 15th January 2025, 11:30 - 13:00, NBD 442

Two further dates in April and June TBC.

If necessary, please join the waiting lists for these events if you are interested in attending as we may be able to expand the capacity.

This training is mapped against the Vitae Development Framework, Domain C and subsection C1 (see page 3 of the handbook, here).

All academic staff must complete the mandatory ethics module on NU People and Finance every three years.

Staff can access this following the below steps:

• Log in to NUPF.
• Click the 'Me' tab.
• Then click the 'Learning' tile.
• A screen is shown where a course name can be typed in to search for it.
• Search for 'Northumbria University: Research Ethics'.
• Click on the item.
• Click 'enroll' to launch the course.

Please note that NUPF is hosted by HR, so any queries should be directed to them.

The theme of this term’s Ethics and Integrity training programme is Participants in Research. The team have organised a series of training sessions both in-person and online to support researchers with best practices surrounding the topic. There are also sessions designed to support colleagues with use of the Ethics Online System for both applicants and reviewers.

Please follow this link to the Research calendar on LibCal to browse and register for events.

Staff User Guides

Staff Applicant User Guide

Supervisor User Guide

Reviewer and Chair User Guide

Staff Ethics Amendment User Guide

Ethics Lead Troubleshooting Guide

Module Level Approval Process and Guidance

FAQs

Student User Guides

Student Applicant User Guide

Student Ethics Amendment User Guide

FAQs

We have provided a range of video resources for staff and students to assist with use of the Ethics Online System.

Ethics Introduction

A short video introducing the Ethics webpages and to show how to access the Ethics Online System.

Student Application Guidance

A brief video to support students making an ethics application, to submit module level approval applications, and some contextual information on the review process.

Staff Application Guidance

A video to walk staff through the process of applying for ethical approval for both individual projects and for module level approval, and offer some contextual information on the review process.

Reviewer and Chair Guidance

Guidance for reviewers and chairs on how to access, navigate, add comments, and conduct reviews in the Ethics Online System whilst offering some contextual information about roles and responsibilities. Slides available here.