Glossary of Terms

• Provides definitions of terms used throughout the Research Governance Handbook

Foreword

• Foreword from Professor Nicholas Forsyth, Vice Principal Research

Section 1: Standards, Expectations and General Principles

• Explains the standards, expectations and general principles which underpin the University's approach to research governance along with the University's commitment to meeting these expectations.

Section 2: The University's Research Ethics and Research Governance Structures

• Explains the University's research ethics and governance structures. The University has an organisational structure in place to oversee research ethics and governance; to ensure that the institution meets its obligations in this area, and that it continues to seek and maintain the highest standards.

Section 3: Ethical Review

• Explains the framework for research ethics and ethical approval of research. Research ethics refers to the moral principles underpinning research at all stages, from developing a project grant application, data collection, to writing up and disseminating their findings. The University is committed to promoting and facilitating the ethical conduct of research conducted by all of its staff and postgraduate and undergraduate students.

Section 4: Policy and Guidelines on Good Research Conduct & Statement on Handling Allegations of Unacceptable Research Conduct

• Explains the policy and guidelines on good research conduct.

Section 5: Research Grant Applications: Key Governance Processes

• Explains the key governance processes involved in research grant applications. This section provides an overview of the arrangements in place for managing key requirements relating to the development of research proposals and funding applications.

Section 6: Research Data Management

• Explains the University's approach to Research Data Management.

Section 7: Training in Research Integrity, Ethics and Governance

• Explains the training opportunities in research integrity and research ethics and governance. The University is committed to ensuring that all researchers (staff and students) receive appropriate training opportunities as part of its over-riding commitment towards staff development and to achieving the highest standards of research governance.

Section 8: Internal Healthchecks and Monitoring

• Explains the internal health checks and monitoring processes. The University carries out regular research ethics and governance "Health Checks" across the institution. The health check is an exercise designed to provide light-touch monitoring of the research governance arrangements in place at local levels. It is coordinated centrally by the Research Policy Committee and every School is involved. The Health check is intended to identify existing good practice and to highlight any local weaknesses in the University's current research ethics and governance arrangements.

Section 9: Repository of Key Research Ethics and Governance Documentation

• Provides a list of the key documents and webpages (internal and external) relating to research ethics and governance.

Appendix: Institutional Arrangements for Research Ethics and Research Governance

• Diagram illustrating the links between University Research Committee and associated groups, boards, committees and university policies and procedures and how these interrelate in support of research ethics and research governance activities across the University.

The Ethics Advisory Group has responsibility for oversight of research ethics and governance issues.

This includes developing and reviewing institutional policy on research ethics and governance; oversight of institutional ethics and governance processes and the activities of ethics boards/committees; receiving reports from ethics boards/committees; undertaking research governance healthchecks within Schools; acting as arbiter on any cases where ethics boards/committees fail to reach a decision on individual ethics applications; and hearing appeals against decisions taken by ethics boards/committees.

The group reports to the University Research Committee. The group remit is available here.

The group meets on a quarterly basis.

Chair: Dean for Knowledge and Understanding - Professor Nir Oren

Members:

Chair of the Committee for Research Ethics & Governance in Arts, Social Sciences & Business (CREGASSB) - Dr Elizabeth Curtis
Chair of the Medicine, Medical Sciences & Nutrition Ethics Review Board (SERB) - Professor Gareth Jones
Chair of the Rowett Ethical Review Board - Professor Alexandra Johnstone
Chair of the School of Psychology Ethics Review Board - Dr Ramakrishna Chakravarthi
Chair of the School of Biological Sciences Ethics Review Board - Dr Thomas Bodey
Chair of the Physical Sciences & Engineering Ethics Review Board - Professor Maria Kashtalyan
Chair of the AFG College Research Ethics Committee (Qatar Campus) - Dr Alessandro Ala
Lay member - Mr Nick Cargill

In attendance:

(Vacancy), Research Policy & REF Manager
Mr Dean Phillips, Assistant Director, Relationship Managment (Directorate of Digital and Information Services)
Miss Louise King, Research Governance Manager, Foresterhill
Mrs Dawn Foster, Research Policy & Governance Officer (Clerk)
Dr Mark Williamson, Research Ethics & Compliance Officer

In addition to our clinical governance structures there are six further committees/boards responsible for oversight of policy and procedure for the ethical review of research and for the development of appropriate guidance for the good practice of all research activity in schools and institutes, and also the AFG College Ethics Board based in our Qatar Campus. Further details are provided in the sections below.

Members of these committees are responsible for considering applications for the ethical review of research in accordance with University policy.

Committee for Research Ethics & Governance in Arts, Social Sciences & Business

This Committee is responsible for oversight of ethics and governance arrangements and good practice in the broad research area of Social Sciences, including the Business School.

Members of the Committee are responsible for considering applications for the ethical review of research in accordance with the institutional Governance Framework.

Each School has an Ethics Officer who is a member of the Committee and who can provide advice to members of their School on all matters relating to research ethics and governance.

Members

• Dr Liz Curtis - Chair (School of Education)

School Ethics Officers:

• Business School
  • Dr Thereza Sales de Aguiar (Deputy Chair)
• School of Divinity, History and Philosophy
  • Dr Alessandra Cecolin
  • Dr Catriona McAra
• School of Education
  • Dr Maria Gregoriou
  • Dr Yukiyo Nishida
• School of Language, Literature, Music and Visual Culture
  • Dr Dan Wall
• School of Law
  • Dr Michiel Poesen
• School of Social Science
  • Dr Rhoda Wilkie

Senior academics external to the disciplines:

• Professor Maria Kashtalyan (School of Engineering, Convener of the Physical Sciences & Engineering Ethics Board)
• Dr Alessandro Ala (AFG College Ethics Board)

Senior representative from IT Services:

• Mr Dean Phillips (Assistant Director, Relationship Management, Directorate of Digital and Information Services)

Representatives from Research & Innovation:

• Mrs Dawn Foster (Research Policy & Governance Officer, Directorate of Research & Innovation)
• Dr Mark Williamson (Research Ethics & Compliance Officer)

The Committee may also invite other members of staff to participate in committee meetings, as necessary.

Links to useful documents:

• The Committee's remit
• The Committee's Standard Operating Procedure for the ethical review of research
• The School Ethics Officers: Best Practice Guidance and Description of Duties

Further information on research ethics and governance can be obtained from the Committee Clerk, Dr Mark Williamson.

School Ethics Review Board

The remit of the committee is to provide a review of ethical aspects of any research proposal for projects on human volunteers or human tissue samples carried out by University staff and students within SMMSN which are not covered by another committee e.g. the NHS Research Ethics Service, the Rowett Institute Ethics Panel or the Psychology Ethics Committee.

Applications

SERB is now accepting applications through Worktribe. Training and instructions can be found at the University Ethics System: Worktribe webpage. Further guidance on applying to SERB as well as additional resources is available in the Ethical Approval for Research webpages.

The dates for all other review meetings and application deadlines can be found in this document: Dates for review meetings.

Contact Information

General enquiries: SMMSN Ethics Review Board
Chair: Professor Gareth Jones
Vice-chair: Dr James Ross
Clerk: Dr Katie Crosley

Physical Sciences and Engineering Research Ethics Board

The Physical Sciences and Engineering Ethics Board is responsible for the ethical review of research and for the development of appropriate guidance for the good practice of all research activity within Physical Sciences and Engineering.

Members of the Committee are responsible for considering applications for the ethical review of research in accordance with the institutional Research Governance Framework.

Representatives from all Schools within Physical Sciences and Engineering (School Ethics Officers) sit on the Board.

The Board's remit can be viewed here. The Board's Standard Operating Procedure can be viewed in this document: PSEEB - Standard Operating Procedure. The best practice guidance and description of duties for School Ethics Officers can be viewed here.

Members

• Professor Maria Kashtalyan - Convener (School of Engineering)
• School of Engineering
  • Dr Dominic Van der A
  • Dr Yingfang Zhou
• School of Geosciences
  • Dr Rebecca Crozier
  • Dr Amy Gilligan
• School of Natural and Computing Sciences
  • Professor Ehud Reiter
  • Professor Celso Grebogi
  • Dr Nigel Beacham (responsible for reviewing applications involving pedagogical research submitted by all disciplines covered by the Board)
• Miss June Middleton - Research Development Executive, Research and Innovation
• Mr Dean Phillips - Assistant Director, Relationship Management, Directorate of Digital and Information Services
• Dr Liz Curtis - Senior Academic external to the disciplines (School of Education, and Chair of the Committee for Research Ethics and Governance in Arts, Social Sciences and Business)
• Mrs Dawn Foster - Research Policy & Governance Officer
• Dr Mark Williamson - Research Ethics & Compliance Officer (Clerk)

The Board may also invite other members of staff to participate in Committee meetings and reviewing, as necessary.

For further information on research ethics and governance within Physical Sciences and Engineering please contact the Clerk to the Ethics Board at copsethics@abdn.ac.uk.

Psychology Ethics Committee

Members of the committee are responsible for considering applications for the ethical review of research in accordance with the institutional Research Governance Framework. The committee reviews and provides advice on research ethics for all research projects carried out in the School of Psychology, including undergraduate, postgraduate and staff projects.

All research and all teaching exercises involving human participants and their data which is conducted under the auspices of the School must have received approval by the PEC (even if ethical approval has been given by some other institution).

Further information on the Ethics Committee and their associated ethical review process can be obtained here.

Rowett Institute Ethics Panel

Members of the panel are responsible for considering applications for the ethical review of research. The panel reviews and provides advice on research ethics for all research projects carried out in the Institute, including staff and student projects.

Further information on the Ethics Panel and their associated ethical review process can be obtained from Professor Alex Johnstone, Chair of the Rowett Ethics Panel, or Mr Gary Cooper, Quality Manager, Rowett Institute.

Staff and student research projects must be submitted for ethical review where the nature of the proposed research activity requires ethical approval. For example,

• projects involving research on animal and biological materials (e.g. ASPA regulated procedures, genetic material subject to the Nagoya Protocol), or
• projects involving human participants (e.g. interviews, workshops, focus groups)

Ethical approval should be sought as early in the research process as possible, and certainly before the research commences.

Note: the above list of criteria for ethical review is not exhaustive. For further advice on whether your proposed research will require ethical approval, or to submit an ethics application, contact the SBS Ethical Review Board.

Management of data of all types has become increasingly digital and this presents challenges different to those associated with traditional paper-based methods. Unlike paper-based formats data storage is not stable - technologies become obsolete and media such as CDs or DVDs become unreadable over time, rendering the data contained on them useless.

Due to the pace of technological change there is a heightened risk associated with keeping electronic as opposed to paper-based records, thus presenting requirements and challenges to manage these records effectively, to ensure they are not rendered obsolete alongside the technology that supports them.

In recent years there has been rapid growth in research data produced by Higher Education institutions across the world. The EU, the UK and Scottish government recognise the need to better manage these data in order to make the best possible use of them.

Key funders of research at the University have also acknowledged this change and are now incorporating requirements for research data management into funding criteria. Funders increasingly require underlying datasets to be made available, as primary research outputs for reuse by other researchers, in addition to the finished product or research in the form of published articles

Good data management incorporates management of data at every stage of the data lifecycle, covering data capture; storage; preservation; access; reuse; and where appropriate, disposal.

Compliance with the expectations of funders will be vital in ensuring researchers continue to secure funding for future research projects. The University will provide the necessary guidance in this process.

Making research data available to users is core to the remit of the UKRI Research Councils, supporting the development of institutional and project specific data management policies and plans in accordance with relevant standards and community best practice.

• UKRI Common Principles on Data Policy

Summaries of UK research funders' data policies are available from the Digital Curation Centre (DCC)

An overview of UK Research Funders' data policies can also be found at https://www.dcc.ac.uk/guidance/policy/overview-funders-data-policies

The University's Research Governance Framework provides guidance for good research conduct, including the security of research data and retention of research records.

• The Research Governance Handbook

The University of Aberdeen is a subscriber to the UK Research Integrity Office , and complies with the UKRIO standards of research integrity and governance, including the security and accessibility of research data. Access the UKRIO's requirements on data retention and storage

Policy

The University Research Data Management Policy complies with all current research integrity and governance standards and funders' mandates for sharing research data.

Research data management plans

Some research councils and other major funders require a data management plan as part of the funding application.

The Digital Research Team within IT Services can provide access to funder templates and advice and guidance where needed. Templates can be accessed at DMP Online. DMPs should be updated, where necessary throughout the project lifecycle.

Costs for data management, including data storage and archive, are eligible from many grant funders, including the research councils.

Further information:

• Services for Researchers
• Research Data Management Policy and Guidance

The University research information system, Pure, acts as our dataset catalogue. Pure allows for the recording of basic metadata and the storage of data within our institutional repository. For data stored in external (subject) repositories, Pure can record metadata and link to the dataset via DOI or weblink. The datasets can be linked to research publications and grants numbers on our grants database. They can be marked visible to public and will then appear in the research portal, where they are fully discoverable.

Guidance on how to add datasets to Pure is available here. While the guidance is specifically written to support researhcers funded by the Engineering and Physical Research Council (EPSRC) the process can be used by any researcher who needs to upload or provide informaiton about datasets.

The following teams and external services can support you with queries about Research Data Management

Digital Curation Centre

• Funder Requirements
• Data Management Planning

IT Services / Digital Research

• IT Training
• Research Applications and Data Management
• Data Management Services
• Data Security
• Confidentiality
• Backup Your Data
• Data Storage for Researchers
• Long Term Storage & Preservation

Information Governance

• Academic Research and Data Protection
• Freedom of Information and Data Protection
• Transferring Data Abroad

Records Management

• File & Folder Naming Conventions
• Version Control
• Selection, Retention & Destruction

Research Data Management Training

• MANTRA

Scholarly Communications

• Open Access
• Open Research
• How to make data accessible

UK Data Service

• File Formats & Software

• Digital Curation Centre (DCC)
• Grampian Data Safe Haven
• Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)
• Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)