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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 27 September 2024	Monday 01 October 2024	Friday 11 October 2024
Friday 25 October 2024	Monday 28 October 2024	Friday 08 November 2024
Friday 22 November 2024	Monday 29 November 2024	Friday 06 December 2024
Friday 13 December 2024	Monday 16 December 2024	Friday 17 January 2025
Friday 24 January 2025	Monday 27 January 2025	Friday 07 February 2025
Friday 21 February 2025	Monday 24 February 2025	Friday 07 March 2025
Friday 21 March 2025	Monday 24 March 2025	Thursday 17 April 2025
Friday 25 April 2025	Monday 28 April 2025	Friday 09 May 2025
Friday 09 May 2025	Monday 12 May 2025	Friday 23 May 2025
Friday 23 May 2025	Tuesday 27 May 2025	Friday 06 June 2025
Friday 06 June 2025	Monday 09 June 2025	Friday 20 June 2025
Friday 27 June 2025	Monday 30 June 2025	Friday 11 July 2025
Monday 21 July 2025	Friday 25 July 2025	Friday 08 August 2025

 

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).