SCSS Ethics Application Process - REAMS
All School of Computer Science and Statistics research ethics applications must be submitted via the new Research Ethics Management System – REAMS
If you are a member of Staff, Postdoctoral Researcher, Ph.D. candidate or M.Sc. by Research student: Applications can be made directly through REAMS
If you are a Taught Postgraduate student or Undergraduate student: You must contact the research-ethics@lists.scss.tcd.ie mailing list to have a REAMS profile created for you.
REAMS Guidance documentation
SCSS Introduction to REAMS Video Guide
(13 minutes)
Office of the Dean of Research Video Guide to submitting an application on REAMS
(15 minutes)
How to apply?
To apply for research ethics approval, you should submit your application via the REAMS system. If you are a first-time user of this system, you will need to create a username and password. This will enable you to login, upload and update your application, and check on its approval status.
All applications will be reviewed by the supervisor in the case of student projects. If applications are Level 1, Supervisors may sign off/approve. Supervisor approval does not stand as proxy for ethical approval, and cannot be stated as such in publications. Forms which are not not presented at an acceptable standard (eg: incomplete or containing excessive typographical or grammatical errors) will be returned and may therefore incur delays for the researchers involved.
It takes time to prepare an application for research ethics approval, to have the application considered, and to respond to feedback on the application where issues are raised. You should plan in your work for the time it takes to obtain research ethics approval. Furthermore, retrospective approval will not be granted.
Individual applications are considered on their own merits. A basic principle is that prospective participants should be fully informed about the research and its implications for them as participants, with time to reflect on the possibility for both risk and benefit derived from participation, prior to being asked to sign an informed consent form. Informing prospective participants fully includes declaring potential conflicts of interest that the researcher may have in conducting the research, detailing how participants may withdraw data associated with their participation from further analysis within the study, explaining the preservation of their anonymity within the study, warning them about potential consequences of discovery during the study of issues that would necessarily have precedence over assurances of anonymity, and so on.
Please further note that the Research Ethics Committee processes a large volume of applications and will normally provide a response within 4 - 6 weeks.
General Ethics Guidance
All members of staff and students undertaking research should do so with cognisance of the Trinity College Guidelines for Good Research Practice no matter what their research project entails.
Research Data Collection and Storage when Working Remotely
The Research Ethics Policy Committee have published guidelines on the conduct of research and data collection and storage. Please read these guidelines ahead of submitting ethics applications, and ensure that you conduct your research in a manner that is safe for you, your participants and the data created.
Health Research
Additional requirements apply to health research applications. Please see the TCD Guidelines for Consent in Health Research.
Contact
Applications should be submitted via REAMS. Any further queries regarding research ethics in SCSS can be directed to research-ethics@lists.scss.tcd.ie