skip to content

Research Integrity

 

The University of Cambridge has four School-level Research Ethics Committees (RECs) that can review projects involving Human participants and personal data. Some Departments, Faculties and Institutes also have their own local RECs or procedures. The list below provides brief guidance on the remit of the Committees and information on how to contact them.

School-level Research Ethics Committees

Cambridge Human Biology Research Ethics Committee

Considers applications for ethical review for research programmes in human biology at the University of Cambridge, where these do not come under NRES review. The Committee is constituted from senior members of those Departments from which applications are most commonly made. For further information on the Committee, including membership and how to make an application for ethical review, please see their website.

Cambridge Psychology Research Ethics Committee

Considers applications for ethical review for research programmes in human psychology at the University of Cambridge, where these do not come under NRES review. The Committee is constituted from senior members of Departments from which applications are most commonly made. For further information on the Committee, including membership and how to make an application for ethical review, e please see their website.

Cambridge Humanities and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee

Will consider applications from researchers in the arts, humanities and social sciences at the University of Cambridge. The Committee considers cases that cannot be, or would not be appropriate to be, dealt with at a local level. The Committee provides guidance to Faculties/Departments/Centres and to researchers on the types of research which should be referred to it. For further information see the Committee's webpage

Cambridge School of Technology Research Ethics Committee

This Committee was established in 2012. Generally, authority to consider cases in the School of Technology is delegated to departmental committees. In complex circumstances, however, cases can be referred to this Committee. For more information see the School's webpage on its Ethics Committee here

The institutions in the School of Technology comprise the Departments of Engineering, Computer Science and Technology and Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, as well as the Judge Business School and Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. All institutions consider studies and experiments, including those involving human subjects. Contacting the local Research Ethics Committees can be done by using the information further down this page, or via the School office on ethics@tech.cam.ac.uk


Local Research Ethics Committees and Processes

The Faculty of Architecture and History of Art Research Ethics Subcommittee 

The ethical approval process for the Faculty of Architecture and History of Art Research Ethics Subcommittee is available on the Faculty's ethics webpage.

The Dept of Archaeology Ethics Review Board

The Dept of Archaeology Ethics Review Board provides ethical advice and review for research carried out in the department. For guidance on the types of research that require consideration, see the Dept's ethical guidelines available at https://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/research/research-ethics-department-archaeology The Ethics Review Board can be contacted via ethics@arch.cam.ac.uk

Centre for Business Research Executive Committee

The ethical approval process for the Centre for Business Research Executive Committee is available here: https://www.cbr.cam.ac.uk/research/research-ethics/

Cambridge Higher Education Studies Research Ethics Committee (CHESREC)

This committee has been established primarily to support the research activities of people seeking ethics review for research projects that are focused on the teaching, learning or other educational experiences within the University of Cambridge, or research projects relating to student admissions including outreach/recruitment work with potential students, where they do not have an existing affiliation to a Faculty or Department. This includes, for instance, researchers from the Cambridge Centre for Teaching and Learning, the Disability Resource Centre, the Cambridge Admission Office, the University Libraries, as well as our student partners in the Cambridge University Student Union and Graduate Union.  Additionally, CHESREC provides ethics advice and review for educational research activities undertaken by interdisciplinary teams, or where students are engaged as co-researchers on projects not directly related to their discipline, or by those whose local research committees do not necessarily have the disciplinary expertise to provide ethics advice for research on teaching and learning practices in higher education. For more details, see CCTL’s website:  https://www.cctl.cam.ac.uk/research-evaluation/ethics-review or contact chesrec@cctl.cam.ac.uk

Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership Ethics Committee

The ethical approval process for the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership is available on this webpage

Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology REC

Researchers and students in the  Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology can access information and guidance on local ethics approval procedures and support on this teams channel.

Computer Science and Technology Ethics Committee 

This Committee is a small, specialist team drawn from within the Department. Research in the Computer Laboratory often involves experiments on human subjects at all levels of complexity, the committee will offer advice and review where appropriate. Further information is available at http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/local/policy/ethics/.

Institute of Criminology Ethics Committee

This Committee functions largely in an advisory capacity in relation to applications to external bodies. It draws upon the British Society of Criminology's Code of Ethics. The committee largely serves to help researchers prepare for submissions to national bodies, but also gives confirmation that ethical dimensions of the research have been considered within the Institute. Students and staff are not obliged to submit their proposals to the Institute's committee and may use other research ethics committees within the University or beyond.

For further details, please contact the Institute.

Faculty of Divinity Committee

The ethical approval process for the Faculty of Divinity is available on the Faculty's Research Integrity and Ethics website.

Faculty of Education Standing Panel on Research Ethics

The Standing Panel consists of the Head of Faculty and all Professors, Readers, Senior Lecturers and Senior Research Associates within the Faculty. Any member of the Faculty (staff or student) can raise ethical issues with the Panel and it will also address concerns raised by individuals outside the Faculty.

For more details, please see the Faculty research ethics portal on Moodle (requires Raven access)

Department of Engineering Research Ethics Committee

The Department of Engineering REC provides advice to the Department's researchers on the ethical considerations of their research projects and can provide ethica review for projects in the Department.

For more details, please see the Department's ethics website (Raven)

Fitzwilliam Museum & HKI REC

The ethical approval process for the Fitzwilliam Museum is available on the Museum's Intranet (link: https://intranet.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/research/research-ethics/).

Department of Geography Ethics Review Group

The Department's Review Group handles the initial ethical review if required by research funding bodies. In cases where a full review of ethical issues is required, the project will be referred to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee, which is consistent with the requirements of a funding body which requires ethical review (for example, as outlined in the ESRC's Ethical Research Framework).

For more information see the Department's ethics website.

History and Philosophy of Science Research Ethics Committee

The History and Philosophy of Science REC provides advice to the Department's researchers on the ethical considerations of their research projects and can provide ethica review for projects in the Department. For more details, please see the Department's ethics website.

The Judge Business School Research Ethics Review Group

The Judge Review Group provides guidance and expedited ethical approval for researchers and students in the Business School. The Group may seek external specialist advice where potential concerns are identified. Where formal University-level ethical review is required, applications should be made to a School-level Research Ethics Committee (i.e. the most appropriate out of the School of Technology, Human Biology, Psychology or Humanities and Social Sciences Committees).

For further information, please contact research-support@jbs.cam.ac.uk or klj22@cam.ac.uk.

Department of Land Economy Research Committee

The ethical approval process for the Department of Land Economy is available on the Department’s website (Raven).

Faculty of Law Ethics Committee

Initial ethical review of research in the Faculty of Law is carried out by the Faculty’s Research Ethics Committee using discipline-specific knowledge to assess the ethical issues in a research project. For details see the Faculty's research ethics webpage.

The Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence Research Ethics Committee

The CFI REC provides ethical advice and review for research carried out in the Faculty. For further information, please contact Dr Dorian Peters at dp605@cam.ac.uk.

Ethics Committee of Modern and Medieval Languages & Linguistics (MMLL)

Researchers and students in the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics can access guidance on local ethics approval procedures and support here.

The Faculty of Music Ethics Committee

The Faculty Ethics Committee provides ethical advice and review for research carried out in the Faculty. For further information see the Faculty's Ethics Webpage.

Department of Politics and International Studies Ethics Committee

The ethical approval process for the Department of Politics and International Studies is available on the Department's website.

Department of Psychology Ethics Committee

The Department of Psychology Ethics Committee provides review for undergraduate and graduate research projects in the department. If the PEC feels a project may raise ethical issues that require the PREC or REC, it will advise the supervisor to apply to the relevant committee.

Post-doctoral research projects or those led by a PI that require ethical approval should be sent to the Psychology Research Ethics Committee (via the School of the Biological Sciences) as usual.

The PEC is also available for occasional consultation on ethical issues to any member of the Department of Psychology.

For further details see the Committee website.

Social Anthropology Ethics Committee

The ethical approval process for the Department of Social Anthropology  is available on  the department's webpage.

The Department of Sociology Ethics Committee

The Committee provides ethical review for undergraduate and graduate student research in the Department of Sociology. Its remit is to ensure that research conducted in the Department conforms with (a) ethical standards set by the discipline's professional bodies and the academic profession as a whole, and (b) legal provisions and responsibilities, especially those governing universities.
The Committee acts as a filter and a monitor: if it assesses that a project does not raise any serious ethical issue or risks, it will give approval. More complex cases will be referred to the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee.For more details see the Department's website.

Department of Veterinary Medicine's

The ethical approval process for the Department of Veterinary Medicine's Animal ethics and welfare care is available on the department's intranet