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A visual diagram for the Process of Submitting Research Ethics Applications through OREMS.

Submission Process

The ethics process is designed to be supportive and facilitate high-quality research.

The documents you will need to provide depend on the risk of the project. Your responses on “Page 2: Determining Ethical Review Route” and “Page 7: Questions to determine level of risk” will be used to identify the level of risk associated with your project.

Low Risk Projects qualify for expedited review. These types of projects typically involve online surveys with adults about noncontentious issues. For such projects, you will be asked to provide:

• Outline of the study design and a list of the procedures and/or research activities
• How participants will be identified and recruited
• Outline how informed consent will be obtained prior to participation
• In separate documents, upload your recruiting, information letter, consent form, and supporting documents (such as study questionnaires, site approval, risk assessments, etc.)

High Risk Projects require a full review. High risk projects include things like recording participants (e.g., audio recording interviews), vulnerable participants (e.g., children), and sensitive topics. For such projects you will be asked to provide:

• 1 Participant Recruitment
• 2 Researcher access/exit
• 3 Data collection
• 4a Information given to participants
• 4b Informed consent
• 5 Participant’s right of withdrawal
• 6 Complaints procedure
• 7a Anonymity/confidentiality
• 7b Data storage
• 7c Data protection (see: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/secretary/data-protection/)
• 8 Safety and well-being of participants/researchers
• 9 Reporting of research
• 10 Power and participant relations
• 11 Responsibilities to colleagues/academic community

See http://www.bris.ac.uk/education/research/networks/ethicscommittee/links/ for links to relevant research ethics with human participants guidelines.

Accurately answering the questions in your OREMS application will automatically determine the risk associated with your project. Most projects going through the School of Education are high-risk projects. If you are not asked to complete a high-risk proposal, please check you have correctly responded to items on Page 7.

Regardless of the level of risk associated with your study, please ensure that all participant facing study documentation has been provided for review. This includes all the materials related to your study, which you will be asked to supply as an uploaded document.

Submitting a Research Ethics Proposal

Follow the steps below to create and submit a research ethics proposal.

1.       Arrange a meeting with a fellow researcher. Before you submit a research ethics proposal on OREMS, you must arrange to share your information about your research ethics and all participant-facing information with a discussant. Participant-facing information includes any Questionnaires &/or topic guides, and all Study Documents you will use e.g. Recruitment material, Participant Information Sheet, Consent form, Debrief, Site access (letter to school, letter to parent or guardian) etc. Discussant is a fellow UoB researcher (‘discussant’) with relevant experience (e.g., same level of study). You will then meet to discuss ethical aspects of your proposed research with that person.

In the OREMS application, you will be asked for details of your discussant and a summary of changes, if any, made based on your discussion.

2.       Create a proposal in the OREMS system. https://orems.bristol.ac.uk

• Use your UoB single sign-on to log into the system. Your account will be automatically generated.

• To create an application:
  • Select the “+ create project” under “Actions” menu (top left of screen)
  • In the dialogue box
    • Enter project title
    • Under form select “University of Bristol Research Ethics Application”
    • Select “Create”

• To open application, select “Page 1: Researcher Details” found in the middle of the page
  • Faculty: Social Sciences and Law
  • School: School of Education
  • Research Ethics Committee to review application: School of Education

(the exception to this is ESRC (including Impact Awards) & UoB Widening Participation funded projects, which need to be reviewed by FSSL Research Ethics Committee)

You will be promoted to provide the information needed for your project as you complete the application. The information required depends on the risk associated with your project

3.       Send your OREMS application to your supervisor for their signature. After adding the information and documents required, send your application to your supervisor for feedback. By selecting the relevant option on the last page of the application (“Signatures”), a link to your application will be automatically emailed to your supervisor.

i. Address Supervisor Comments. Your supervisor will read and comment on your application. They can either ‘approve’ your application or ‘reject’ it an d add comments that you will need to address. If it is rejected, address their comments and re-send for their approval.

Note: you may need several back-and-forths with your supervisor before they are able to approve your application.

4.       Send to the SoE Research Ethics Committee for review. Once you have obtained your supervisor’s signature, you must sign the application and submit it for review (Under “Actions”, select “Submit”). You must wait for the final approval email from the Ethics Committee before starting data collection.

 

The committee has organised a timetable for deadlines for submissions by applicants and for committee as laid out in the table below. Please note that applications will not be reviewed in August.

Submission Date	Reviewer Assigned	Committee Decision
Friday 29 September 2023	Monday 2 October 2023	Friday 13 October 2023
Friday 27 October 2023	Monday 30 October 2023	Friday 10 November 2023
Friday 24 November 2023	Monday 27 November 2023	Friday 8 December 2023
Friday 15 December 2022	Monday 18 December 2022	Friday 19 January 2024
Friday 26 January 2024	Monday 29 January 2024	Friday 9 February 2023
Friday 23 February 2024	Monday 26 February 2024	Friday 8 March 2024
Friday 22 March 2024	Monday 25 March 2024	Monday 15 April 2024
Friday 26 April 2024	Monday 29 April 2024	Friday 10 May 2024
Friday 10 May 2024	Monday 13 May 2024	Friday 24 May 2024
Friday 24 May 2024	Tuesday 28 May 2024	Friday 7 June 2024
Friday 7 June 2024	Monday 10 June 2024	Friday 21 June 2024
Friday 28 June 2024	Monday 1 July 2024	Friday 12 July 2024
Friday 26 July 2024	Monday 22 July 2024	Friday 9 August 2024

 

i. Address Committee comments. A proportion of applications will be reviewed by the committee before approval and one of three decisions will be reached.

• SoE Favourable Opinion: Your project is approved and you may now begin data collection activities.

• SoE Conditional Opinion: Comments related to your project need to be addressed. These will be included in a summary email, but can also be found within your OREMS application at the relevant section. Revise your application, obtain supervisor signature (if needed), and re-submit your application to the committee for review.

• SoE Unfavourable Opinion: Your application has been completed incorrectly or there are serious ethical flaws in your proposal that need to be addressed. Details will be provided in the email and comments with in the OREMS. Please work with your supervisor to improve your proposal and resubmit your application to the committee for review.  

Note: you may need several back-and-forths with the Research Ethics Committee before they are able to approve your application.

5.       SoE Favourable Decision. After receiving a favourable decision from the committee on your proposal, you may begin data collection. Only research with a favourable decision should be conducted within the SoE.

Remember to include evidence of the favourable decision in your dissertation by adding a copy of the email as an Appendix.

How long with this process take?

Please don’t underestimate the amount of time needed to create your proposal and gain the necessary approvals. It usually takes a few drafts working your supervisor to improve the proposal, and then at least 3 weeks for review and processing by the committee. I recommend allocating no less than 6 weeks to this portion of your research study. The anticipated start date associated with your study should reflect the time needed for reviewing and processing your proposal.

If you are working on a time-sensitive project and urgently need your ethics proposal processed please email the SoE’s Research Ethics Committee Chair (Dr Sarah Eagle, s.eagle@bristol.ac.uk).

Submitting Amendments

If you are making a substantive modification to an existing previously approved project, this can be done via the OREMS system.

1. Log onto OREMS (https://orems.bristol.ac.uk )

2. Locate your ethics application that you wish to submit an amendment request for in your work area. This should automatically be there.

3. Select your ethics application that you wish to submit an amendment request for.

4. In the left-hand side under 'actions' select the 'Create Sub Form' action and select create amendment form.

5. Complete your amendment form which is similar to the paper form and upload your revised study documents.

6. Once completed select ‘Submit’.

Additional support

• Exemplar materials are provided for students in their Unit Blackboard pages.
• If you are seeking ethical approval for a research project that is externally funded, please contact the SoE's Research Ethics Committee Chair (Dr Sarah Eagle, s.eagle@bristol.ac.uk).