Faculty Research Ethics Committees
There are 5 Faculty Research Ethics Committees (FRECs) covering the 7 University Faculties:
- Arts, Humanities and Cultures (AHC)
- Biological Sciences (FBS)
- Business, Environment and Social Sciences (BESS+)
- Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPS)
- Medicine and Health (FMH)
Further information about the various FRECs, including the Terms of Reference and Constitution, are set out below.
The University Research Ethics Committee has delegated responsibility for review of individual ethics applications to FRECs and, within the Faculty of Medicine and Health, to School Research Ethics Committees.
AHC FREC
A representative of the Faculty Taught Student Education Committee: Professor Ed Venn
A representative of the Leeds Arts and Humanities Research Institute: Dr Alex Bamji and Professor Melanie Bell
School of English: Dr Jay Prosser
School of Fine Art, History of Art & Cultural Studies: [Vacant]
School of History: Professor Julia Barrow
Questions relating to AHC ethics applications should be directed to: AHCResearchethics@leeds.ac.uk
FBS FREC
Chair: Dr David Lewis, School of Biomedical Sciences
Lay member: Michelle Davies
Additional members:
Dr Andrew Smith, Biomedical Sciences (and member with medical expertise)
Katherine Wilson, Health and Safety representative
Postgraduate student representatives: [Vacant]
Questions relating to FBS ethics applications should be directed to: FBSResearchEthics@leeds.ac.uk
FBS intranet page (only accessible via campus network)
BESS+ FREC
BESS+ FREC is a cross-faculty research ethics committee reviewing applications from the Faculties of Business, Environment and Social Sciences. Its members include School and Scholarship Ethics Leads and student representatives. The Committee can also include co-opted members who are there in an advisory capacity as their knowledge and experience would be helpful to the Committee's work.
Membership
Chair: Dr Judith Hanks, School of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences
Deputy Chairs:
Professor Paul Glover, School of Earth & Environment, Faculty of Environment
Dr Shankha Basu, Marketing, LUBS
Scholarship Ethics Lead: Richard de Blacquière-Clarkson
Ethics Leads for the Faculty of Environment
Professor Claire Quinn, School of Earth & Environment
Professor Jon Lovett, School of Geography
Dr Caroline Mullen, Institute for Transport Studies
Dr Mark Hopkins, School of Food Science & Nutrition
Ethics Leads for the Faculty of Business (Leeds University Business School (LUBS))
Dr Joshua Weller, Economics and Management
Dr Desmond Leach, Management
Dr Sundeep Aulakh, Work & Employment Relations
Dr Dionysus (Dion) Ang, Marketing
Dr Hanh Pham, International Business
Ethics Leads for the Faculty of Social Sciences
Dr Lata Narayanaswamy, School of Politics & International Studies
Dr Huahui Zhao, School of Education
Dr Miro Griffiths, Sociology & Social Policy
Dr Laurène Soubise, Law
Co-opted Member: Dr Michael (Mick) Walker
Student Representatives
LUBS: Veronica Gonzalez Navarro
Faculty of Social Sciences (shared role): Marianne Talbot and Sameerah Mahmood
Faculty of Environment: Gazi Laila
Questions relating to BESS+ ethics applications should be directed to: BESSResearchEthics@leeds.ac.uk
EPS FREC
Chair: Dr Virginia Pensabene (School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering)
Deputy Chair: Dr Ray Holt (School of Mechanical Engineering)
Ex-officio Members:
Deputy Dean of Faculty: Professor Giles Davies
Pro-Dean for Research and Innovation: Professor Cath Noakes
Graduate School Representative: [Vacant]
School Ethics Leads:
Chemical & Process Engineering: Dr Andrew Scott
Chemistry: Professor Malcolm Halcrow
Civil Engineering: Dr Paul Hutchings
Computing: Dr Evangelos Pournaras
Electronic & Electrical Engineering: Dr Dominic Jones
Mathematics: [Vacant]
Mechanical Engineering: Dr Jen Edwards
Physics & Astronomy: Dr Alison Voice
Postgraduate Representatives:
Faculty of EPS: Soheil Ranjbar
School of Chemistry: Thomas Moore
Lay Member: [Vacant]
In Attendance:
Representative from OD&PL: Dr Emily Goodall
Representative from RDL: Brenda Phillips
Questions relating to EPS ethics applications should be directed to: EPSResearchEthics@leeds.ac.uk
FMH FREC
Chair: Dr Julia Csikar (School of Dentistry)
School Chairs
Dentistry: Dr Karen Vinall-Collier
Healthcare: Dr Rebecca Dickinson
Medicine: Dr Klaus Witte
Psychology: Professor Graham Finlayson
Deputy Chairs
Medicine: Dr Cedric Duval
Psychology: Dr Rachel Coats
Lay Member: [Vacant]
In Attendance
OD&PL Representative: Dr Emily Goodall
R&I Operations Manager (Dentistry): Julie McDermott
Psychology Technician: Abi Cairnswood
Note: Oversight of research ethics applications within FMH is undertaken at school-level by the following research ethics committees (REC):
- School of Dentistry (DREC)
- School of Healthcare (SHREC)
- School of Medicine (SoMREC)
- School of Psychology (SoPREC)
Questions relating to ethics applications for the School of Medicine and School of Healthcare should be directed to: FMHUniEthics@leeds.ac.uk
The School of Dentistry and and the School of Psychology have a local submission process - please contact them directly.
The Terms of Reference and Constitution of FRECs
Terms of Reference
- To consider applications for ethical review from University staff and students which include research with significant ethical dimensions, in particular those involving human subjects; data pertaining to human subjects; and research with the potential for an adverse impact upon the physical environment. University Research Ethics Committee (UREC) has delegated the review of such proposals to the Faculty Research Ethics Committees (FRECs).
- To work with applicants to ensure that research is conducted ethically.
- To protect the dignity, rights and welfare of research participants and to consider the safety of the researcher(s).
- To ensure that ethics review is independent, competent and timely.
- To promote awareness and understanding of ethical issues in research throughout the Faculties covered by the FREC.
- To provide advice on any ethical matters relating to research that are referred to it from within the Faculties covered by the FREC.
- To audit completed research which received ethical approval to ensure compliance with ethical practices.
- To monitor the ethics review arrangements in place within Schools and Institutes within the Faculties covered by the FREC.
- Where necessary, to withdraw or suspend approval of a research project due to serious concerns regarding its ethical aspects.
- To refer matters of complexity or sensitivity to the UREC for advice or assessment.
- To report to UREC on an annual basis.
- Where the Committee is responsible for more than one Faculty, the Chair and Deputy Chair will usually be based in different Faculties.
- The FREC will meet four times a year and on an ad hoc basis as necessary.
- The Committee shall have the power to co-opt such additional members as are necessary for the conduct of its business.
- Applications which come within the remit of the National Research Ethics Service, or Home Office regulated research are not within the remit of this Committee.
Constitution
Membership should be multidisciplinary and include representatives of all the Schools within the Faculties covered by the FREC as well as at least one appropriately trained external member with no affiliation to the University of Leeds, and be constituted so that conflicts of interest are avoided.