Ethics
The responsible conduct of research at UCT is supported through university-wide and faculty-specific policies, senate-level committees, and faculty-level research ethics committees (RECs):
- The RECs take responsibility for the review and oversight of research projects that engage with research participants through interactions and/or interventions, and/or use individually identifiable data about living individuals.
- Their work is shaped by core principles of justice, beneficence, and respect for people.
- RECs typically require detailed protocol information relating to:
- the reasonableness and minimisation of risks
- the balancing of risks and benefits associated with participation
- assurance as to the equitable representation of persons, and
- support for the voluntarism associated with ethics research.
- RECs also undertake special scrutiny of research that engages with vulnerable populations including, among others:
- children
- pregnant women and foetuses
- prisoners
- migrants, and
- people who are cognitively impaired.
- Faculty-level animal ethics committees provide similar oversight for animal welfare and well-being in research projects ranging from laboratory research to wildlife-field studies.
UCT Guideline for Risk-Based Ethical Review of Research (Human Participants)
Senate-level research ethics committees (RECs)
Human Subjects
- Senate Ethics in Research Committee (EiRC)
- Terms of Reference
- Serviced by the Office of Research Integrity
Animal Subjects
- Senate Animal Ethics Committee (SAEC)
- Terms of Reference
- Serviced by the Office of Research Integrity
Faculty-level research ethics committees (RECs)
Human subjects
- Faculty of Health Sciences
- Faculty of Commerce
- Faculty of Law
- Faculty of Science: contact REC Chair, Dr Shari Daya
- Centre for Higher Education and Development
- Engineering and the Built Environment
- Graduate School of Business
Animal ethics
- Faculty of Health Sciences
- Faculty of Science: contact AEC Chair, A/Prof Deena Pillay
