Tasks ethics committee

The Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences at the University of Groningen (EC-BSS) consists of the four chairs of the four departmental chambers or subcommittees, the executive secretary and at least one other member, all appointed by the Faculty Board. The members of the departmental chambers are appointed by the Director of Research (DOR) of each department. There is one chamber for each department in the faculty: Psychology, Sociology, Pedagogical & Educational Sciences, and Teacher Education. The EC-BSS may be supplemented (either temporarily or permanently) with non-voting advisors.

Tasks

The task of the EC-BSS is to conduct ethical and scientific integrity reviews of proposals for research in the social and behavioural sciences that involves human participants and that does not require review under the Medical Research Involving Human Participants Act (Wet medisch-wetenschappelijk onderzoek met mensen, WMO)*. This concerns research that is carried out by or under the supervision of researchers who are affiliated to BSS, including research conducted by PhD students, Bachelor students and Master students.

The researcher with final responsibility for the research (the principal investigator, or PI) must first decide whether the research falls under the WMO or any other applicable laws and regulations that impose conditions on the research, such as the GDPR/AVG and the Dutch Implementation Act UAVG.

* Research that requires review according to the WMO must be reviewed by a Medical Ethics Review Board (Medische Ethische Toetsingscommissie, METc), like the METc Groningen.

EC Request

Researchers must submit their research plan for ethical review, unless it has been reviewed by an METc. They can do this using the EC Request module in the Faculty Research Portal. Once the research plan has been approved, EC-BSS issues a formal ‘positive decision’.

decorative image — Infographic EC (click to enlarge

BSS Ethics Committee Members

Board
Psychology	Dr Marije aan het Rot (chair)
Sociology	Prof Dr Marijtje van Duijn (vice-chair)
Pedagogical & Educational Sciences	Dr Wendy Post
Teacher Education	Prof Dr Ridwan Maulana

There is a vacancy at the EC-BSS for a fifth committee member

Members of the departmental chambers

The other EC-BSS members are listed on the internal website of BSS (infonet) on the page about the departmental chambers.

Positive decision (the approval mail)

Research may not start before the ethics committee has formally issued a positive review-decision of the planned research as submitted for review.

A positive decision is issued in an ‘approval mail’ from EC Request.

The EC-BSS may withdraw a positive review-decision if it becomes apparent that the research is not being carried out as described in EC Request, or if it becomes clear that continuing the research could place the participants in unacceptable situations or subject them to unacceptable risks.

Contact

General questions

For general questions you can contact the executive secretary of the EC-BSS via mail: ec-bss rug.nl.

Research participants

You can ask questions about the research and your privacy at any time: now, during the research, or after the research has ended. You may speak to one of the researchers on location, or you may contact the researcher using the contact details provided. Please refer to the information for participants.

If you are taking part in research through a participant platform (e.g. the paid participant platform at the Department of Psychology) and you have questions about the platform or your compensation, please contact the researcher involved. You may also use the contact details provided on the participant platform.

Complaints procedure for participants

If you as a participant believe that (the principal) researcher(s) has violated ethical guidelines or your privacy and that this has not been dealt with adequately by the researcher, you may send your complaint to the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences of the University of Groningen (in writing and including any previous correspondence): ec-bss rug.nl

Researchers affiliated to BSS

Information about preparing and submitting an application for ethical review can be found on Infonet (see menu).

For specific questions, advice or complaints: contact details for the departmental chambers can be found on the relevant Infonet page (see menu).

Last modified:

16 September 2024 1.34 p.m.

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