Ethical Principles

All projects involving collection of data from human participants (including all research by students under the supervision of academic staff, all research by academic staff, and all laboratory/teaching exercises) undertaken by students and staff at the University of Ballarat must be approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) prior to commencement.

If you are undertaking as part of your course any project (including laboratory projects or classroom exercises) or research involving collection of data from human participants, the project or research must:

(a) be supervised by a member of academic staff, and
(b) be approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee prior to commencement.

In a number of courses students participate themselves as subjects in laboratory projects or classroom exercises. Although all students must meet course requirements, they are not required to take part in laboratory projects or classroom exercises that they find adverse or those that raise moral objections. Alternatives that meet the same teaching objectives will be available to students who advise the member of staff concerned that they do not wish to participate in a specific laboratory project or classroom exercise.

Students engaging in laboratory projects or classroom exercises have the same rights as other participants in research. Thus you have the right:

• to be informed of all aspects of the research that might reasonably be expected to influence your willingness to participate,
• to withdraw from the study (and elect to do an alternative) before or during data collection,
• to receive a fuller explanation of the nature of the study after you have provided data,
• to have all information obtained about you treated with strict confidentiality, unless you give explicit consent for it to be dealt with otherwise.

Academic staff are required to have obtained ethics approval prior to the commencement of laboratory projects or classroom exercises involving collection of data from human participants. The expectation is that laboratory projects and classroom exercises are of low risk in the sense that the procedures used do not leave a participant open to risks of emotional or physical harm greater than or additional to risks encountered in the participant's normal lifestyle. In the unlikely event of the procedures having undesired consequences, the member of academic staff involved has the responsibility to remove or correct the undesired consequences.

Some laboratory projects or classroom exercises involve students collecting data from other students or from non-students. When you are collecting data, you are expected to adopt and follow the procedures that were approved for the project by the Human Research Ethics Committee. The member of academic staff who is supervising the project or exercise is responsible for ensuring you are familiar with the guidelines for research with human participants, including data collection.

If you are undertaking research (eg: as an honours or postgraduate candidate), the member of academic staff who is supervising your research will need to lodge an application for ethics approval prior to commencement of the research. Depending on circumstances, the application is lodged on either the Category A: Research Project form or the Category B: Research Project form.

Students who would like more information about ethical issues relating to research with humans or who wish to raise or comment on issues of specific concern can contact the Chair of the Human Research Ethics Committee through Lauren Farrell, Executive Officer, Human Research Ethics Committee, Research and Graduate Studies Office, Ext 9765.