Ethics Process
Ethics Application Process
This page explains the essentials of the process by which UCT Electrical Engineering students complete a research ethics application on the UCT eRA system, in addition to explaining the way supervisors assess students’ ethics application on the eRA.
making an ethics application
Research ethics provides rules for conducting responsible engineering research. For more information, please read through the EBE EiR handbook by clicking here.
For Students: interacting with eRA to make an ethics application
The process of applying for ethics clearance in your research involves the following steps 1. Complete the Pre-screening Questionnaire (PSQ). Click here (Note to simon – link to "1_EBE Ethics in Research Handbook") to open the step-by-step guide for completing the PSQ, which consists of answering "Yes" or "No" to approximately 12 questions (see pages 1 – 17). If the student answers "Yes" to any of the 12 questions, a full ethics application needs to be completed.
The PSQ is assessed by both the student’s supervisor and a Department Authority. Once the Department Authority has reviewed the PSQ, an outcome is determined. The student can follow the steps in the guide to extract the outcome letter from the eRA system by clicking here (Note to Simon – link to “3_Exporting the PSQ outcome letter”).
2. For students who need to apply for full ethics clearance, please click here (Note to Simon – link to “4_EBE Ethics Management- Full Application Process Manual Jan 2023”) for the step-by-step guide (see pages 1 – 25). The full ethics application is reviewed by the student’s supervisor, the Department Reviewer and the chair of the EBE Ethics Committee. After the chair has assessed the application, an outcome letter can be extract by following the similar steps to extracting the PSQ outcome letter (click here (Note to Simon – link to guide “3_Exporting the PSQ outcome letter”) for the guide).
For Supervisors: interacting with eRA to assess students’ ethics application
1. Ethics PSQ: Please click here (Note to Simon – link to "2_EBE PSQ MANUAL JUNE 2022") for the guide on how to assess a student’s Pre-screening Questionnaire (PSQ) application on eRA (see pages 18 – 20). The Departmental Authority for Electrical Engineering is Professor Amit Mishra. 2. Full ethics: Please click here (Note to Simon – link to "4_EBE Ethics Management- Full Application Process Manual Jan 2023") for the instructions to assess a student’s full ethics application (see pages 26 – 28).
