Research Ethics and Integrity – guidance for MSc students
Research Ethics and Integrity – guidance for MSc students
All MSc students should ensure that their dissertation research has been ethically
reviewed prior to undertaking their empirical research. Some programmes require
students to submit an Ethics Assessment Form (and any supporting documents)
alongside their Research Proposal. If your programme does not make this specific
request please ensure you submit an ethics form (and any supporting documents) to
your Programme Administrator BEFORE commencing your empirical research.
Your ethics form (and any supporting documents) MUST have been checked and
signed by your dissertation supervisor prior to submission. All dissertation
supervisors (including those who are external to the University) are expected to be
familiar with the School of GeoSciences Ethics Guidance; if yours is not please ask
your Programme Administrator to send them a printed copy of the Ethics Guidance
Notes as soon as possible.
Self-Assessment Ethics Forms (and any supporting documents) SHOULD NOT be sent
to the School of GeoSciences Ethics Committee. It is your Programme Administrator
who should keep a record of these forms (and any supporting documents).
The ONLY time an MSc student should submit an ethics form to the School of
GeoSciences Ethics Committee is if their research requires a Full Ethics Review (you
should determine whether this is the case by consulting the ethics Guidance Notes
and discussing your research with your dissertation supervisor). If this is the case NO
research should be undertaken until you have received an Ethics Determination from
the School of GeoSciences Committee (this can take 3-4 weeks). We would advise
that you send a copy of the Ethics Determination to your Programme Administrator
for their records.
Please submit all documents electronically - ethics@geos.ed.ac.uk as the School of
GeoSciences Ethics Committee operates a paperless system (NB: electronic
signatures are accepted).
School of GeoSciences – Ethics Committee - 2013
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