Ethics committee structure

The Arts and Humanities Ethics Committee reports to the Academic Ethics Compliance Committee.

Function

AHEC is responsible for ensuring research is conducted in compliance with the University’s ethical standards. Its terms of reference are:

To ensure that the ethical standards of the University are met
To approve any projects involving human participants (who may be adults or children), human material (e.g. tissue or fluid samples), human data (e.g. surveys and questionnaires on issues such as lifestyle, housing and working environments, attitudes and preferences), animals or other organisms, following statutory procedures where these apply, and to refer complex or difficult cases to the Academic Ethics Compliance Committee, as appropriate.
To consider cases where there might be potential involvement in unethical practice arising in the context of teaching, consultancy, outreach or research (e.g. in relation to the funding, conduct, dissemination, collaboration or application of these activities), to offer guidance and advice to Heads of Department and individual members of staff on these cases, and to refer cases that raise substantive issues to the Academic Ethics Compliance Committee, as appropriate
To report annually to the Academic Ethics Compliance Committee on the business undertaken by the committee, providing a statistical overview of the work of the committee and drawing attention to any general issues.
To manage ethical considerations in a manner characterised by explicit discussion, institutional accountability, and proportionality.

The Arts and Humanities Ethics Committee membership for 2024-25 is: