Ethics System: Worktribe

Once you have determined that your research requires ethical approval (see University checklist), you should begin to prepare your application.  You can save as you draft your application as there are a number of aspects you will need to consider and respond to - please ensure you consult the 'Guidance on Preparing Your Application' as this will help you draft your application.  Don’t forget to allow time for reviews and approval as well.

No, not all projects will need ethical approval and there is a checklist that will guide you through whether an application is required.

No, as long as you have answered the first screen of questions and saved you can then return to your application in Worktribe at any time to make changes before you submit.

No. Once submitted, it becomes ‘View only’. The Ethics Triage for your Ethics Board may be able to make minor changes on your behalf or will return to you if more extensive changes are required. 

Not normally, however we must be confident that the principal investigator's institution has comparable ethics approval processes. Please contact worktribeethics@abdn.ac.uk for further guidance.

Yes, it does assign a unique ID to each application, and we can search the system using this ID.

On the Scope tab, the question ‘Does the proposed research raise any ethical issues or risk of reputational damage that are not covered above?’ can be used to provide further details of any ethical issues raised by your project that aren’t addressed in any of the other questions.

This is a mandatory question and must be answered by all applicants.  For the purposes of our application process, please tick ‘yes’ to this question only if the application has undergone formal peer review by an external or internal panel.  For all other ethics applications, tick ‘no’ and confirm in the response that peer review was not required for this project.  We do not require the upload of any evidence around peer review.

When answering this question, please bear in mind the implications of choosing the location of the research, for example, whether the location is on public or private premises, and whether the location poses any particular risks to participants or researchers

The application needs to contain sufficient information for the reviewers to form a judgement on whether any risks to participants and researchers have been considered and addressed sufficiently.  For example, it may not be possible at the time of application to provide an exact location (i.e building, room number) for an interview or activity, but we would expect applicants to address travel to and from the anticipated venues, accessibility issues and personal safety. 

Please ensure you consult the 'Guidance on Preparing Your Application' as this will help you draft your application.

Hazardous substances are any those substances posing a risk to human or environmental health.  This could be e.g. substances or mixtures with the potential to cause harm if they are inhaled, ingested, or come into contact, or are absorbed through the skin (as defined by the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health), substances such as Persistent Organic Pollutants, radioactive substances, and similar. We advise to contact your respective lab technician/manager to help identify which substances classify as hazardous. 

Controlled substances are those whose possession and use are regulated by the government, e.g. drugs regulated under the misuse of drugs legislation. 

The Data Management Tab must be completed by all projects that do not only work with secondary data that is curated specifically for general public access. However, it does not replace the Data Management Plan (DMP) that might be required by specific funders and projects. More information about DMP requirements can be found on the Data Management webpage.

It will depend upon the risk assigned to your application and each board has flexibility regarding number of reviews requested. 

Applications will be assigned for review to members of the Ethics Board associated with your School.  The reviewers will remain anonymous to the applicant.  Communication with the applicant will be managed via the appropriate Ethics Triage role for your Board.

You will receive an email notification as well as being able to see a notification in Worktribe. You can also use the menu in Worktribe to look at your applications and what stage they are at in the review process.

The application status 'Favourable Opinion' indicates that your application has been approved, whilst the application status 'Revision' will require you to revise and resubmit your application (and the comments provided will explain the required changes).

No. If for any reason you want to delete an application, please email worktribeethics@abdn.ac.uk with the details and reason.

If you are required to revise and resubmit your application, the system will log the time and date of your re-submission as version number 'X'. It does not save copies of any previous versions of your application. The system will only retain the most recent version of your application.

No. You are unable to copy/duplicate a previous or existing application due to the complexity of the question sets.

Worktribe is ISO 27001 certificated. This is an internationally recognised best practice framework for information security management systems (ISMS). Essentially, it means Worktribe is able to securely handle confidential information, with controls in place to identify and reduce any risks to this information.
Worktribe also complies with all GDPR requirements.
Login to Worktribe is strictly controlled by the University with all users having to authenticate via Shibboleth. Once signed in, further permissions within the system enable additional control of proposal elements.

Here is a flow diagram which outlines the ethical application process. As an alternative, we have a text document which outlines the same process. 

Please get in touch with us on worktribeethics@abdn.ac.uk for assistance.

If your ethics application arises out of your PhD studies, then please log in to Worktribe Ethics using your student account. PGR students often hold temporary services accounts that may expire before the end of their studies and may make it difficult to access any applications/approvals.

If the ethics application arises out of research undertaken as part of your employment contract, then your staff account should be used.

All ethics applications submitted (or resubmitted) by students in Worktribe will initially be submitted to the supervisor (= 'submission stage') to ensure that the application is at the required standard for formal ethical review (i.e. the questions have been answered accurately and provide sufficient detail to enable ethical review to be undertaken by the Ethics Board, and that all required documentation has been attached to the application).  If the supervisor identifies that insufficient or incorrect information has been provided within the application, they are required to make comments/suggestions on the application for the student to address.  Applications will be returned to the student by clicking the 'Not Approved' button.  Once the supervisor is satisfied that the application meets the required standard, they should click 'Approved' and the application will be submitted to the formal review process. 

Important Note: the supervisor has a critical role to play in student applications - the application cannot progress within the review process until the supervisor 'approves' the submission of the application, once they are satisfied the required standard has been met.

Automated email notifications are issued to the supervisor as follows:

• Upon initial creation of an ethics application by the student (the supervisor may edit/comment on the application during this stage); and
• Upon submission of the application by the student (the supervisor will be required to 'approve' / 'not approve' the application for submission to the formal ethics review process); and 
• Upon completion of the Ethics Board review, indicating that either (1) it has been given a 'Favourable Opinion' (i.e. has received Board approval) or (2) if the application has been returned to the student for further revision and resubmission.

The system is only accessible to individuals who have an @abdn.ac.uk e-mail address.   

Please check your Board guidance for further information if you wish to make an amendment to an ethics application that received approval prior to the introduction of the Worktribe Ethics application process.  

Ethics applications can be created as 'standalone' projects i.e. not linked to a funded project that has already been created in the Worktribe 'Projects' module (Research Award Management System).

Multiple ethics applications can be linked to single funded projects recorded in Worktribe i.e. the funded projects created under the ‘Projects’ module.  Where a linked ethics application exists, the project record in Worktribe displays an ‘Ethics’ tab which provides details of all linked ethics applications and their approval status.

Worktribe allows for the storage of documents related to the ethics application within the document tab.  However, Worktribe is not a repository for research related paperwork.  Copies of completed consent forms (and any other associated research documentation) should be stored alongside any other research data in the specific data storage for research projects made available by IT Services:  Data Storage & Archiving | StaffNet | The University of Aberdeen (abdn.ac.uk)