Reminder: Mandatory ethics assessment research for staff & students faculty BMS Retrospective ethics review is not possible

Ethics review for research involving human participants or personal data

If your research involves human participants, directly or indirectly, and/or potentially sensitive or personally identifiable data about or from individuals, groups or organisations, you must complete an ethics review before you start collecting data.

Apply early

Submit your application through the UT Ethics Review Tool as early as possible. Allow enough time for:

• supervisor approval, if applicable
• review by the Ethics Committee
• any questions, clarifications or revisions.

Reviewers aim to complete the first ethics review within 10 working days after receiving your application. The full process can take longer if you need to clarify or change your application.

We strongly recommend submitting your application at least four weeks before you plan to start collecting data. If your research involves complex ethical issues, sensitive data or vulnerable participants, submit your application even earlier.

Retrospective ethics review is not possible. You must complete the ethics review before you start collecting data. Applications submitted after data collection has started will receive a negative ethical advice. Any academic consequences are determined by the relevant educational programme.

Which ethics domain should you choose?

Most BMS-affiliated staff and students enrolled in BMS educational programmes submit their research to the Humanities & Social Sciences (HSS) domain.

If you are a student and are unsure which domain to choose, generally select the domain affiliated with your first thesis supervisor or educational programme. You can also contact one of the domain ethics committees for advice.

You can submit your research to another domain if that domain better fits your research.

Supervising a Bachelor's or Master's thesis?

As a thesis supervisor, you help students design ethically responsible research and plan enough time for the ethics review.

You share responsibility for the content of your student's ethics application. After a student submits an application, you must approve it in the UT Ethics Review Tool. The Ethics Committee secretariat can only assign the application to a reviewer after you have approved it. You will receive an email when an application is waiting for your approval.

Please help students plan at least four weeks for the ethics review process. Make sure they do not start collecting data before the review is complete.

An ethics application and review is more than a formality. It helps students recognise ethical considerations in research and understand their responsibilities when working with participants and personal data.

Questions about your ethics review?

Submit your responses to reviewer comments through your application in the UT Ethics Review Tool, not by email.

If you have questions about the progress of your application, contact the HSS Ethics Committee at ethicscommittee-hss@utwente.nl. Include your application number.

Please do not contact individual reviewers directly by email or Teams about the progress of your application. This helps keep the review process fair and efficient.

Changes after a positive ethics advice?

Have you received a positive ethics advice but want to make substantive changes to your research? Contact the HSS Ethics Committee at ethicscommittee-hss@utwente.nl. Include your application number and a description of the proposed changes.

The committee will determine whether it can add the changes to your original application or whether you need to submit a new ethics application.

A positive ethics advice is valid for one year, unless your application states otherwise. You do not need an amendment simply because you extend your data collection within this one-year period.

The same policy applies to SONA and the BMS Lab.