The University of Birmingham's central HASS and STEM ethics committees

The University has two central ethics committees that review research projects carried out by staff and postgraduate research (PGR) students.

These are the Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) ethics committee and the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) ethics committee. 

Committee membership

These committees are made up of academic members of the relevant disciplines from across the University and also external lay members.    

Please be aware that we are always seeking new committee members – if you are interested in being part of this please contact Sue Cottam at s.l.cottam@bham.ac.uk.  A description of the role can be downloaded here

Review process

When applications are submitted they are triaged to assess their risk level and they are then submitted to the relevant ethics committee for review.  Low risk projects are subject to expedited review by the ethics committee Chair and the ethics committee.  Medium risk projects are reviewed by the committee electronically via Canvas, and high risk projects will be reviewed at a physical committee meeting (these are usually scheduled four times per year).

Colleges

Professional Services