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Research Ethics and Integrity

The conduct of research activities involving human or animal participants is governed by ethics guidelines contained in legislation and policies. The central objectives of ECU’s research ethics arrangements are to nurture ethical conduct and facilitate world-class research. This is achieved by resourcing the reflective practice of ECU’s research.

The foundation of reflective practice is that ethical challenges and questions that arise in human research rarely produce a single answer that would be correct for every project. The specifics of the discipline, methodology, research question and research topic, the potential participant pool and contextual factors such as the location of a project and the experience of the researcher necessitate a more nuanced approach.

At ECU our primary objectives of research ethics review are to provide applicants with constructive and collegiate feedback and in doing so, facilitate the conduct of excellent ethical research.

Research ethics committees

Academic Board oversees the Animal and Human Research Ethics Committees to administer these state and national guidelines, to apply policy and to provide assistance to staff and students undertaking research in the consideration of ethical issues.

Support, guidance and reporting

The Research Governance Team has responsibilities relating to the ethical conduct of research at ECU, including:

  • providing information, support and guidance to staff and students;
  • administrative support for the Animal and Human Research Ethics Committees;
  • liaising between Committees and applicants;
  • monitoring approved research projects;
  • developing, implementing, reviewing and updating policies and procedures where appropriate; and
  • reporting to the University, the National Health and Medical Research Council, and other organisations.

The Research Ethics and Integrity website is a gateway to comprehensive research ethics information, resources and support for our research staff, students and supervisors.

For more information, visit the Research Ethics and Integrity website.

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