School of the Biological Sciences

Cambridge Psychology Research Ethics Committee

The Cambridge Psychology Research Ethics Committee considers applications for ethical approval for research programmes in human psychology. Ethical approval is normally sought from the National Research Ethics Service for studies involving patients attending NHS clinics or users of any of the services for which UK Health Departments are responsible. This includes adult social care in England and both adult and children's social care in Wales and Northern Ireland. The Committee may consider applications involving administration of pharmaceuticals to healthy volunteers and use of NHS facilities where no patients are involved. Applications for ethical approval for investigations in human biology, other than psychology, should be made to the Cambridge Human Biology Research Ethics Committee.

Guidance on policy issues may be obtained from the Committee's handbook (see box), which contains a record of policy decisions on ethical issues, and pointers to guidance documents issued by the British Psychological Society, the Medical Research Council and the Royal College of Physicians.

Applications for ethical approval are submitted to the Committee on the application form (see box). Answer all questions using the notes provided for guidance. Append any additional information (participant information sheets, consent forms, questionnaires, adverts and so on), labelling them as appendices. Further information is given on the application form. Once complete, submissions are sent as email attachments to:

Margaret.Benton@admin.cam.ac.uk

Applications can also be sent on paper to the following address:

The Secretary of the Cambridge Psychology Research Ethics Committee
School of the Biological Sciences
17 Mill Lane

If you would like further advice on the suitability of a project for review or the review process itself, call: 01223 766894 or consult the ethical review process document (see box)

Applications are reviewed by four Committee members from departments other than that of the applicant(s). The Committee is constituted from senior members of departments from which applications are commonly made. The current (2012) members are:

Michael Anderson, MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit

Anita Chhabra, Addenbrooke's NHS Foundation Trust

Isabel Clare, Department of Psychiatry

Michelle Ellefson, Faculty of Education

Elizabeth Fistein, Department of Psychiatry

Usha Goswami, Department of Psychology

Ruth Kershner, Faculty of of Education

Michael Lamb, Department of Psychology

Tom Manly, MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit

James Russell, Department of Psychology

Helen Statham, Centre for Family Research

John Suckling, (Chair), Department of Psychiatry

Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour: Vacant

Lay Member: Vacant

Appointments to the Committee are for three years. Enquiries on vacant positions should be made to the above address.

 

Submission checklist

It is recommended that you complete the following checklist prior to making your submission. Have you included the following documents in your submission?

• -Completed application form
• -Signatures of all applicants
• -Consent forms
• -Participant information sheets
• -Submitted grants
• -Recruitment flowchart
• -Recruitment letters, adverts, etc.
• -Questionnaires