Research Ethics in the School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies

Research Ethics Approval

Trinity College Dublin requires that staff and students obtain research ethics approval before embarking on research that involves human participants, or their data, or research involving animals.

Staff and PhD Students

All applications for ethical approval from staff and PhD students should be made through the Research Ethics Administration Management System (REAMS), TCD’s new web-based platform for submitting an ethics application.

To become familiar with this system and for guidance and resources please visit the REAMS web page.

The Faculty Ethics Committee works on a rolling deadline and will deal with applications as they are submitted via REAMs.

Applications will not be reviewed during the Summer Research period. 

Undergraduate and MPhil Students

Students undertaking research projects requiring ethical approval at undergraduate and postgraduate taught normally apply directly to the School Research Ethics Committee. To apply for research approval a concise Research Project Proposal is submitted. The following information is required: 

• Title of Project
• Purpose of Project including academic rationale (100 words max)
• Brief Description of methods and measurements to be used (200 words max)
• Relevant Participant Details, such as recruitment methods, number, age, gender, exclusion/inclusion criteria, with statistical justification for numbers of participants where relevant
• Debriefing arrangement (100 words max)
• A clear concise statement of the ethical considerations raised by the project and how you intend to deal with them, including consent (200 words max) 
• Cite legislation relevant to the project with the method of compliance, e.g. the Data Protection Act
• Copy of questionnaire
• Copy of consent form
• Copy of participant info sheet. 

Templates for the Consent Form and Participant Information Leaflet can be found here.

Please submit your Research Project Proposal to Dr David Mitchell at damitche@tcd.ie.

In certain cases, your supervisor may advise you to apply to the Faculty Research Ethics Committee. For further details please visit the Faculty Research Ethics web page.

General Research Support and Resources

For general information, supports and resources about research at Trinity go to Supports for Research.