The HREC may grant ethics approvals for courses in which a cohort of students undertake short duration research projects. Course approval applications are subject to the same process (including risk assessment) as other applications, and may be reviewed at E1, E2 or E3 level depending on the degree of risk. However, it is recommended that course coordinators design projects that are low (E2) or negligible (E1) risk for this purpose.
To apply for course approval, the course coordinator should submit an ethics application in the online system prior to the commencement of the course. The application should cover the component of the course requiring ethics approval (e.g., the research project that students will undertake) according to the curriculum of the course.
Once ethics approval has been granted, a Course Research Project Parameters Approval form must be submitted to the Human Research Ethics Office each time the course is offered. This report must include a list of all students who will be covered by the course approval, as well as the titles of their individual projects and, when relevant, the names of the organisations where the research/activity is to be undertaken.
Confirmation that all students are covered by the course approval must be received before students commence their research. The course coordinator is responsible for ensuring that all individual projects fall within the scope of the course approval.