The HRS4R Implementation Committee would like to thank the respondents for their feedback regarding Section 1 of the Ethical and Professional Aspects of the HRS4R questionnaire. The Committee, in liaison with the University Research Ethics Committee (UREC), has gone through the responses and the below information is being provided to all members of staff of the University of Malta (UM) for guidance.
UREC has been set up to ensure that all research conducted at UM shall comply with the University’s Research Code of Practice, and it has vigorous annual audits.
A dedicated web page is available on the UM website wherein information and instructional material regarding the whole research ethics clearance procedures is available, including:
(i) The UM Research Code of Practice:
The document is approved by the Senate and is based on the European Commission’s ‘Ethics for Researchers’ (2013). It explains the most important and fundamental principles of research ethics.
(ii) Research Ethics Review Procedures:
The aim and responsibilities of UREC and the Faculty Research Ethics Committees (FRECs) are outlined in this document. It is the responsibility of the FRECs to communicate updates to their researchers as instructed by UREC.
(iii) University of Malta staff, students, or anyone else planning to carry out research under the auspices of the University, must complete the online application form called URECA. Instructional videos on how to submit the URECA online form and the questions that are included in it are available online.
(iv) Sample documents including information letters and consent forms, which may be modified depending on the specific area of research.
(v) A list of FRECs and their webpages.
(vi) Training sessions are held throughout the year in liaison with the Office for Human Resources Management and Development, wherein all academics and Research Support Officers/Assistants are encouraged to attend. When a date of the training is confirmed, a mailshot is sent to all UM staff. The training session is also part of the CPD course offered by the Office for Professional Academic Development (OPAD). UREC is also planning to offer an information session during an orientation programme for new UM members of staff.
In addition to the above, the HRS4R Implementation Committee together with UREC, will explore the possibility of: (a) increasing the number of internal staff that can offer training to a wider audience within the University of Malta community; (b) engaging advisors on research ethics and research data protection to advise researchers at the proposal stage of a project; and (c) implementing an encrypted central repository for storage of post-project documents, such as consent forms.