UCT Ethics
UCT Ethics,
Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment
Ethics in Research
Ethics Applications
If you are planning to undertake research in the Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment you will need to ensure that you have read the latest revision of the EBE EiR Handbook
EBE staff, students, as well as external persons or parties linked to EBE – planning to undertake research, must apply for ethics clearance.
For an overview of ethics application requirements in the Faculty, see:
- Undergraduates;
- Postgraduates;
- Academic Staff.
Research involving UCT students and staff
For research involving UCT students as research subjects you will need additional approval from the Executive Director, Department of Student Affairs, Dr Moonira Khan
For research involving UCT staff as research subjects you will need to contact the office of the Executive Director, Human Resources, Ms Joy Henry
Submission Information
To access previously created applications, please login here.
To submit your application please consult the table below for the appropriate pathway for submission.
Four types of research are considered:
- Research that does not involve humans or animals.
- Research that involves interviews of human participants.
- Research that involves performance of clinical tests on humans.
- Research that uses or involves animals.
Depending on the type of research that you are conducting, the colour codes in the table below indicate the appropriate ethics committee that you should submit your application to (follow the relevant link in the legend below).
| Applicant | Does not involve humans or animals |
Interview of human participants | Perform clinical tests on humans | Use animals in research |
| Staff | EBE EiRC Minimal Risk Declaration for Staff | EBE Ethics in Research Committee (EiRC) | Health Sciences EiRC | Senate Animal Ethics Committee |
| External Researcher | EBE Ethics in Research Committee (EiRC) | |||
| Undergraduate (4th year Projects) |
Construction Economics & Management Civil Engineering Postgraduate / Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering ERC all / Postgraduate / Undergraduate Electrical Engineering Undergraduate / Postgraduate Chemical Engineering Undergraduate / Postgraduate Architecture, Planning and Geomatics Architecture / Planning / Geomatics / Landscape and Conservation |
|||
| Honours Research | ||||
| *Masters < 120 credits | ||||
| *Masters > 120 credits | See above blue section | EBE Ethics in Research Committee (EiRC) | ||
| All PhD Research | EBE Ethics in Research Committee (EiRC) | |||
* Please note: Masters’ applications include both MPhil and MSc applications.
Contact Persons Per Department:
Civil Engineering
- Postgraduate – Rowen Geswindt
- Undergraduate – Isabel Ncube
Mechanical Engineering
- Postgraduate – Tasha Dilraj
- Undergraduate – Rosalind Maree
- ERC – Fazlin Harribi
Electrical Engineering
- Postgraduate – Nicole Moodley
- Undergraduate – Matthew Van der Westhuizen
Chemical Engineering
- Postgraduate – Belinda Davids
- Undergraduate – Bridgette Cloete
Architecture, Geomatics and Planning
- Architecture and planning – Naomi Gihwala
- Geomatics – Junita Abrahams
- Landscape and conservation – Naomi Gihwala
Construction Economics and Management
- Honours and undergraduate – Anastacia Haddon
- Postgraduate – Mareldia Fagodien
Ethics in Research Committee – Bianca Cleenwerck
Faculty Of Commerce
Ethics in Research
Please read the Ethics in Research Handbook of the Faculty of commerce prior to your application.
Any person planning to undertake research in the Commerce Faculty should answer the following questions:
- Is your research making use of human subjects as a source of data? (you are using questionnaires, surveys, interviews, secondary data about people)
- Is there a possibility that your research could cause harm to a third party?
- Does your research involve the participation of communities?
- Is your research providing a service to a community?
- If your research is sponsored, is there any potential conflict of interest?
- Is your research in the field of Health? Please read the following document : Ethics in Health Research and read the additional note below.
Research within the Health Sector
The Commerce Faculty Ethics Board is not registered to grant approval to applications that are covered in the Health Act of South Africa and are defined as health research:
“health research” includes any research which contributes to knowledge of-
(a) the biological, clinical, psychological or social processes in human beings;
(b) improved methods for the provision of health services;
(c) human pathology;
(d) Causes of disease;
(e) the effects of the environment on the human body;
(f) the development or new application of pharmaceuticals, medicines and
(g) the development of new applications of health technology;
Please see http://www.health.uct.ac.za/fhs/research/humanethics/about. You are also required to submit an application to Commerce when submitting an application to Health Sciences.
The Application Process in the Commerce Faculty
Please see below what you need to do in order to receive ethics approval, based on the answer to the question above
|
Applicant |
Answer to the question |
Action |
| Undergraduate Student | Your answer to any of the 6 questions above is YES then Read the latest version of the:
|
MANAGEMENT STUDIES STUDENTS :
|
| Your answer to all of the questions above is NO | Discuss with your course convenor | |
| Postgraduate Student, doing my Honours, PGdip, Masters research (less than 90 credits) | Your answer to all of the questions above is NO | You are not required to submit an ethics form. |
| Your answer to any of the 6 questions above is YES then Read the latest version of the:
|
MANAGEMENT STUDIES STUDENTS :
|
|
| Master Student doing a research project with 90 credits or more | Your answer to all of the questions above is NO | You are not required to submit an ethics form. |
| Your answer to any of the 6 questions above is YES then Read the latest version of the:
|
Submit your online application via the link below:
|
|
| PhD student | Your answer to all of the questions above is NO | You are not required to submit an ethics form |
| Your answer to any of the 6 questions above is YES then Read the latest version of the:
|
Submit your online application via the link below:
|
|
| A member of staff doing a research project | Your answer to all of the questions above is NO | You are not required to submit an ethics form. |
| Your answer to any of the 6 questions above is YES then Read the latest version of the:
|
Submit your online application via the link below:
|
|
| External Researcher (student or staff member who are not part of the UCT community, including international researchers, NGOs or other organisations) |
Your answer to any of the 6 questions above is YES then Read the latest version of the:
|
Submit your online application via the link below:
|
Should you have any questions regarding Ethics Applications, please speak in the first instance to the course convenor, your supervisor or your departmental representative:
| Representative | Department | Email Address |
| Salah Kabanda | Dept. of Information Systems | [email protected] |
| Michael Harber | College of Accounting | [email protected] |
| Badri Zolfaghari | Graduate School of Business (GSB) | [email protected] |
| Edward Chamisa | Dept. of Finance & Tax | [email protected] |
| Tony Leiman | School of Economics | [email protected] |
| Etiene Pienaar | Dept. of Statistical Sciences | [email protected] |
| Carren Field | Dept. of Management Studies | [email protected] |
| Adiilah Boodhoo | Dept. of Management Studies | [email protected] |
| Siphiwe Dlamini | Dept. of Management Studies | [email protected] |
| Phillip De Jager | Dept. of Finance & Tax | [email protected] |
| Elvina Moosa | Graduate School of Dev.Policy & Practice (GSDPP) | [email protected] |
| Carlos de Jesus | College of Accounting | [email protected] |
Please find below some of the important documents:
- University of Cape Town code for research involving humans
- UCT Research Ethics For Research Involving Human Participants
- Commerce Faculty Ethics in Research Policy
- UCT Authorship principles
- Commerce Faculty Authorship Principles
- Ethics Clearance And Permission
- Commerce Ethics in Research Handbook
Forms for applying to use UCT staff or students as human participants
- HR194 – Access to UCT staff for research purposes
- DSA 100 – Research access to students
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