University Research Ethics Committee

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The process of UREC review is summarised in the flow diagram at the bottom of this page.

The University Research Committee (UREC) is comprising academic staff from Schools within the University and lay members. UREC is chaired by the LJMU Research Governance Manager Dr Dave Harriss. The secretary of UREC is Mandy Williams (Research Support Officer Ethics and Governance) based in the Research and Innovation Services.

UREC reviews ethics applications and administer minimal risk registration forms for principal investigators who are LJMU staff or postgraduate research (PGR) students. Following consultation with supervisors, School/Faculty RECs and module/programme leaders will consider reviewing undergraduate and PGT projects that do not meet the criteria for expedited review – but only after the student’s supervisor has considered changing the project so that it meets the criteria for expedited ethical review.

To submit an ethics application to UREC:

Complete the ethics application form and supporting documents
Submit the LJMU Research Ethics and Governance Decision Tool to determine whether the project meets the criteria for minimal risk registration, expedited review or routine review.
Email the ethics application form and all supporting documents as ONE PDF document to the correct email address as directed by the Staff & PGR LJMU Research Ethics and Governance Decision Tool.

Minimal risk registration

On receipt of an ethics application for a project that is associated with minimal risks and that will comply with the LJMU Research Ethics and Governance SOP, the notification of favourable ethics opinion and approval will be emailed to the applicants by UREC (no further ethical review required).

Expedited UREC ethical review

Projects that meet the criteria for expedited UREC review will usually be reviewed within 10 working day by two members of UREC (one of whom will be the Chair or a Deputy Co-Chair of UREC) who will decide whether the application receives a favourable ethics opinion, an unfavourable ethics opinion, is deferred or referred for routine UREC ethical review. Resubmitted ethics applications following a deferral from UREC are usually reviewed within 5 working days.

Routine UREC ethical review

Projects that meet the criteria for routine UREC ethical review must be reviewed at a UREC meeting. UREC meets approximately every 4-6 weeks with the submission deadline set 11 working days before the meeting date. Once submitted, the Chair of UREC will screen the ethics application to ensure the information provided will permit routine ethical review. So if requested by the Chair, an applicant must be prepared to update their ethics application and resubmit it at least six days before the UREC meeting date. At the UREC meeting, the ethics application will receive a favourable ethics opinion, an unfavourable ethics opinion or be deferred. Applicants will normally be notified within 1-3 working days of the UREC decision. UREC will decide whether deferred applications need to be resubmitted for ethical review at a future UREC meeting or can be resubmitted for review by chairs action. Chairs action review of resubmitted ethics applications are usually completed within five working days.