Role Name

Description

Researcher

Anyone can create an Ethics Application form by virtue of being a Researcher on the eRA system. Once an initial Ethics Application form has moved beyond the Draft step, and for all subsequent submissions for the same study, only those users who are named on the Application Form as members of study staff will have access to make changes to a submission form.

Online Ethics Application forms require certain declarations to be acknowledged. The person who captures an Ethics Application form needs to select the name of such declarer/s. The existence of the Declarer's name on the online Ethics Application form will give the Declarer the necessary rights to acknowledge the related declaration.

Committee Administrator

The Committee Administrator role is the role required by the Administrators who work in the Research Ethics Committee (REC) office associated with a particular set of Ethics Application forms, e.g., the Administrators who work in the office of the IFHREC. This role is required in order to orchestrate the progression of an online Ethics Submission through the review process, i.e.:

• check whether a submitted form has been completed correctly;
• submit the form to EXCO in order for EXCO to assess whether the submission can be expedited, or whether it must be subjected to a Full Committee Review;
• create Ethics Review Sheets for a particular submission if required, and manage the response to such individual submission reviews;
• depending on whether the review track for the submission is expedited or full committee review, manage the workflow through the appropriate steps to arrive at the overall outcome of the ethics review process;
• create a review response letter to the PI or Applicant providing the overall outcome of the review of the submission (this is done off the system); and finally
• to  attach the review response letter to the submission and save it in the required workflow status that will pass it back to the PI of the study concerned. The Committee Administrator role is also required to maintain the list of EXCO members, and the list of Administrator staff on the related online Committee Form.

Similarly, Committee Administrators capture online Ethics Review Sheets on which they select the name of the Reviewer. The existence of the Reviewer's name on the online Ethics Review Sheet will give such Reviewer the necessary rights to complete a review on the online form.

NOTE: In order for the system to work correctly, any user who is assigned the Committee Administrator role needs to be listed in the Administrator Staff on the related Committee Form.

NOTE: In Faculties where there is limited administrative support for REC processes it may be the case that the REC Chair or EXCO also hold this role.

Committee EXCO

The Committee EXCO role, is the role required by the EXCO members of the REC office associated with a particular set of Ethics Application forms, e.g., the EXCO members of the IFHREC. This role is required in order to perform the following tasks on the system:

• Assign the review track appropriate to an online ethics submission, i.e. the expedited process (no committee review required - usually assigned in the case of low risk research only), or a full committee review (the more commonly assigned track);
• If deemed a requirement, provide Reviewer/s names for which someone with the Committee Administrator role must create online Ethics Review Sheets;
• Assess the outcome of the ethics review process (in the case of an expedited review), or confirm the outcome of the ethics review process (in the case of a full committee review) for a particular submission.

(NOTE: In order for the system to work correctly, any user who is assigned the Committee EXCO role needs to be listed in the list of EXCO members on the related Committee Form. EXCO members will need to have both the Committee EXCO role and a Researcher role. The Researcher role is required when they are named as the Reviewer on an Ethics Review Sheet.)

Supervisor

The role of a supervisor is to guide the researcher or student through the research process and methodology, facilitate access and assist with the process of ethics applications who will also review and determine if an application meets all the regulations and policies of the university for a particular discipline. NB: Until a supervisor signs off on a student submission to eRA, that submission does not progress to the relevant committee for review – delays are frequently caused by this step not being completed.

Reviewer

The role of the reviewer is to review the full ethics application which has been initiated by the researcher role. The committee-EXCO will advise the Committee Admin who would be best placed provide an expert review of the study, with the Committee Admin subsequently creating review sheets on which feedback will be captured. 

Committee Member

This role enables all people who are identified as "committee members" of a specific committee to review applications while they are in the "committee review" status, enabling all committee members to have sight of an application, regardless of whether they are formally assigned as a reviewer. 

Departmental Authority

Utilised in the Pre-Screening Questionnaire process. This role is the person who adjudicates whether an application does need to progress to a full ethics application, or whether ethics is not required for a specific project. This role is usually held by the Chair or the relevant Faculty or Departmental REC.