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Guidance for Postgraduate Research Students

BSMS postgraduate research (PGR) student ethics applications are made and submitted electronically via the online ethics review application system in Sussex Direct via the link below.

Visit Sussex Direct here >

Applications for a range of health-related research involving healthy human participants, their biomaterial, or personal data are all eligible for review.

PGR applications are reviewed by Brighton and Sussex Medical School’s Research Governance and Ethics Committee (RGEC).

*Ethics approval must be obtained before the research starts, and any data collection or recruitment activities commence*

Quick links

How to apply for ethics approval >
Help applying >
What to submit >
How to submit an application online >
Ethics review process >
How long does the review process take until approval? >
Amendments to research projects after approval has been granted >

How to apply for ethics approval

Applications to RGEC will be reviewed via one of two pathways. Applications considered to be of lower complexity may be reviewed outside of a scheduled Committee meeting. Those considered to be of higher complexity will continue to be reviewed at a meeting. Applications will be triaged on submission to determine which pathway they will follow. Applicants will be notified of this decision.

A flowchart showing the proportionate review of applications to RGEC

The ethics application is submitted by the PGR student in Sussex Direct. Under ‘Choose routing of application’ ‘Brighton and Sussex Medical School Research Governance & Ethics Committee’ must be selected.
Please ensure you allow enough time (at least 6 weeks) for the review process when planning your research. Applications should be timed in advance of the intended start date to allow time for review and any amendments that may be required.

Meeting dates
Meeting date	Submission deadline
13 March 2025	20 February 2025
12 June 2025	22 May 2025
11 September 2025	21 August 2025
11 December 2025	20 November 2025

Submission ahead of the deadline does not guarantee a slot at the meeting if it is oversubscribed. You will be notified whether your application is being considered at the meeting.

(Please note the deadlines and meetings only refer to Staff/PGR applications. UG/PGT applications are reviewed by a School Research Ethics Officer (SREO), unless deemed high risk).

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Help applying

A Word version of the online ethics review application form used by Staff and PGRs for applying for RGEC review provides a template to use when preparing an application.

DOWNLOAD the WORD VERSION here >

Useful forms and guidance

The Applicant Checklist provides guidance on supporting study documentation to include as part of the application:

DOWNLOAD THE CHECKLIST TOOL FOR APPLICANTS HERE >

What to submit

The documents required for PGR student applications are:

Ethical Review Application Form (online in Sussex Direct). All questions must be answered. “Not applicable” is a satisfactory answer where appropriate. Applicant guidance for completing the form is included in Sussex Direct via the ‘Help’ tab.

Supporting documentation must also be supplied and submitted in PDF format if they are relevant to your project:

Participant Information Sheet (PIS) for each group of participants involved in the study

View the PARTICIPANT INFORMATION SHEET TEMPLATE >

Consent Form (CF) for each group of participants involved in the study to be signed by each participant.

View the CONSENT FORM TEMPLATE >
View the INTERVIEW CONSENT FORM TEMPLATE >
View the VERBAL CONSENT TEMPLATE >

Recruitment materials: posters, copies of letters or emails of invitation to recruit participants, social media posts, etc.
Copies of relevant authorisations such as consent from any organisational, institutional, or participant group ‘gatekeepers’ to gain access to the research participants or data.
Questionnaires – where applicable.
Interview topic guide(s) – where applicable.
Focus Group topic guide(s) – where applicable.
For complex studies: Study protocol (this supports the ethics application but does not replace the requirement for the Ethical Review Application Form to be completed).
If your research requires conducting fieldwork off-campus, including lone working, domestic or overseas travel, or is taking place in a foreign country, completion of a University of Brighton Risk Assessment will be required addressing the hazards, risks, and control measures and should be included as a supporting study document in your ethics application.

DOWNLOAD the risk assessment here >

If your research will require high risk travel or fieldwork conducted in high risk locations (for example, a country within Sub-Saharan Africa), and online Risk Assessment must be completed in AssessNET for the project, to provide institutional oversight.

Students must first request the setup of an AssessNET account. Contact Nicola Arnold, Safety HUB Manager, Occupational Safety and Health Services, n.j.arnold@brighton.ac.uk to arrange an account to be activated.
AssessNET is then accessed via SharePoint here, the University of Brighton’s intranet.

Please provide a PDF copy of the AssessNET Risk Assessment as a supporting study document. (Risks Associated with Research - University of Brighton Risk Assessment and Travel Insurance Requirements offers further guidance).

Download the risk assessment guidance here >

If you are conducting research outside the UK, a completed Applicant Checklist Tool for Research Conducted Overseas will be required, which is available via the ‘Overseas Research’ page. View the page here >
Summary Curriculum Vitae (CV) for non-BSMS supervisors.

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How to submit an application online

The completed application is transferred by the student to their supervisor in advance of the RGEC submission deadline. The system generates an email (sent to their University of Sussex email address) to alert the supervisor that an application requires their review. Students must ensure the application is completed to the satisfaction of the supervisor (including undertaking any supervisor directed changes) before submission for ethics review. The Committee cannot accept incomplete applications.

A BSMS faculty supervisor with a BSMS email address linked to a University of Sussex ITS account is required to authorise the student’s application in Sussex Direct to ensure appropriate oversight for supervised research.
Supervisor authorisation is a 2-step process:
- The supervisor approves the application (which results in a system generated notification to the student). (Select ‘Enter Decision’ > ‘Decision Status’ – select ‘Approved by supervisor’; or ‘Returned for revision (by supervisor)’ and provide an explanation of the return in the free text box).
- The application is flagged for submission and a ‘Submit to C-REC’ button is visible in the supervisor’s queue of ‘Applications submitted for supervisor approval’. The supervisor transfers the application to the BSMS RGEC for ethics review via a ‘Submit to BSMS RGEC for review’ button located at the bottom of the application.

Ethics review process

All applications will be reviewed by two members of the Committee in addition to the RGEC Chair/Deputy Chair. If an application is being considered at a scheduled RGEC meeting, the applicant may request to attend the meeting in person although this is not necessary/mandatory as part of the review process.

All applications will be reviewed by two members of the Committee in addition to the RGEC Chair/Deputy Chair. If an application is being considered at a schedule RGEC meeting, the applicant may request to attend the meeting in person although this is not necessary/mandatory as part of the review process. A request should be sent to rgec@bsms.ac.uk two weeks before the meeting date to allow discussion time to be accommodated in the meeting agenda. PGR students are encouraged to be accompanied by a supervisor. The application will receive one of the following decisions:

Approved – no amendments to the application form or study documentation required.
Conditionally Approved – minor amendments required.
Returned for Revision – studies which are either Conditionally Approved and require minor amendments to the application and study documentation or Provisionally Approved and require substantial amendments to the application and study documentation.
Not Approved – for studies which are ethically unsound or submitted in error.

All conditionally approved applications and a majority of provisionally approved applications will be reviewed via Chair’s Action. In some cases of provisional approval, the re-submission will also be considered by the original reviewers.

If you would like to discuss your research before submitting your application, drop in sessions are held weekly via Teams from 2-3pm with Alice Ashford (Senior Research Ethics & Integrity Officer) and Dr Valerie Shilling (RGEC Chair). To access the Teams links, please visit the ‘Help applying’ webpage.

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How long does the review process take until approval?

The timeframe for approval will depend on the quality of the submission. On average, the process can take at least six weeks for full review and approval. It is therefore important that you submit your application in good time and when entering the dates of your proposed data collection that they are far enough in the future.

Amendments to research projects after approval has been granted

RGEC approval must be sought for any changes that are made to projects following ethics approval. For example, you will need to apply for an amendment approval if you wish to:

Change the study design or methodology, participant recruitment process or populations. Example: recruitment of an additional cohort of participants.
Change any documentation previously reviewed and approved. Example: rewording of any documentation including letters or information sheets.
Modify the study tools, for example, the addition of a new questionnaire.
Extend the study end date.

If in doubt whether the change requires further ethics review please contact rgec@bsms.ac.uk.

If you need to apply for an amendment approval, you will need to submit a ‘Request for Amendment Form’ outlining the changes that are entailed, for consideration of the RGEC Chair in Sussex Direct.

DOWNLOAD THE AMENDMENT FORM here >

In Sussex Direct:

Select ‘Submit Amendment’ in the approved parent application.
In the ‘Supporting Documents’ section, upload the Request for Amendment Form together with any new and revised versions of the study documentation.
The named supervisor will need to authorise and submit the amendment.

Most amendment requests can be considered by the Chair within 10 working days of submission and do not require review at a scheduled RGEC meeting. Occasionally substantial amendments require comprehensive review, and the applicant will be notified.

GO BACK TO the RGEC homepage >