Ethics and Research

The Ethics Committee has prepared a new version of the Specific Ethics Protocol (see below). For applications from 15/02 onwards the use of this document is mandatory.

Researchers at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences (FPPW) should adhere to general ethical research principles:

The Ethics Committee

The task of the FPPW Ethics Committee is to advise researchers on ethical issues and review research applications. The mission statement of the Ethics Committee is described in the AEP.

To do justice to various traditions of research, the FPPW Ethics Committee is composed of members from all departments. The chair is Prof. Thierry Marchant and the secretary is Prof. Melissa Tuytens.

Applying for ethical approval

Before you start

  • Read the General Ethics Protocol thoroughly.
  • Consider whether ethical approval is necessary. A list of situations in which it is necessary to obtain approval from the FPPW Ethics Committee can be found in the General Ethics Protocol.
  • In some cases it is necessary to apply to another commission (e.g. the Medical Ethics Committee). More information on this can be found in the introduction of the General Ethics Protocol.
  • Please note that only applications of approved projects will be assessed. Applications related to projects that have not yet been submitted or are still waiting for approval (e.g. by the FWO) will not be assessed by the ethics committee.
  • Preferably submit a fully English dossier (i.e. those documents that are not used for communication with participants, such as the SEP, DMP and GDPR record), but submitting a Dutch dossier is of course also possible.
  • Applications concerning master's theses are to be submitted by the supervisor.

Submitting an application

  • Fill out the Specific Ethics Protocol (SEP).
  • Complete the file with all necessary documents (see checklist in SEP).
  • Forward the full file to ec.pp@UGent.be.
  • To get an idea of what a typical application file looks like, some examples are provided inspired by real applications .

What is the procedure for applications?

    Three types of applications are possible. Each type of application follows a specific procedure. Details can be found on the following pages:

    Rules, protocols & templates