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ACADEMIC COUNCIL

UNIVERSITY RESEARCH ETHICS COMMITTEE

Minutes of the second meeting of the 2012/13 session held on Tuesday 4th December 2012 at 10.00am in Room QA 075, Queen Anne Court, Greenwich Campus.

Present:
Prof. Pam Maras (Health & Social Care) (Chair)
John Wallace (VCO) (Secretary)
Dr Richard Anthony (SCI)
Lucy Fincham (VCO)
Dr. John Foster (HSC)
Prof. Andrew Lambirth (EDN)
Tony Mann (CMS)
Dr John Orchard (NRI)
Edward Phillips (HSS)
Dr Gavin Rand (HSS)
Dr Pia Sweet (S London Healthcare NHS Trust)
Prof. Stephen Thomas (BUS)
Dr Minghua Zhao (GMI)
Apologies:
Tracy Banton
Prof. Chris Bellamy (GMI)
Prof. James Gao (ENG)
Prof. Alastair Mathie (PHA)
Mark Mulville (ADC)
Dr. Simon Richardson (SCI)
Keith Tomlins (NRI)

Dr Pia Sweet, from South London Healthcare NHS Trust, was welcomed to her first meeting as an external member of the Committee.

Min
UREC: / APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
12.32 / Apologies for absence were noted.
DECLARATIONS OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
12.33 / Prof. Andrew Lambirth declared his interest as a co-researcher in application ref. 12.2.5.2: Literacy by Design.
MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING
12.34 / The minutes of the meeting held on 12thOctober 2012 and summary of decisions made were agreed as an accurate record.
12.35 / MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
None
APPROVAL BY CHAIR’S ACTION
12.36 / The committee noted that the following applications which required amendment had been satisfactorily completed and approved by chair’s action:
  1. cf: min. 11/12.2.5.18 (School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences): A fuzzy decision support system for rheumatic fever and heart diseases in Nepal
  2. cf: min. 11/12.3.5.16 (School of Health & Social Care): The development of an observational method to examine peer-victimisation among young children
  3. cf: min. 11/12.4.5.15 (Business School): Late life crisis: A key to understanding long-term wellbeing in the over-50s
  4. cf: min. 12.1.5.1 (School of Health & Social Care): Identification by intoxicated witnesses
  5. cf: min.12.1.5.2 (School of Science): Community and place identity in fishing communities of the English Channel and southern North Sea
  6. cf: min. 12.1.5.3 (School of Health & Social Care): Issues of power, empowerment and intentionality in participatory research with children
  7. cf: min. 12.1.5.4 (Business School): The influence of organisational diversity policy on organisational diversity culture and practice
  8. cf: min. 12.1.5.5 (School of Education): Managing Teacher Competence and Conduct
  9. cf: min. 12.1.5.7 (Business School): Innovation, performance measurement and management in British credit unions
  10. cf: min. 12.1.5.8 (Business School): Improving Young People’s Chances in the UK Labour Market: Evidence from a Randomised Control Trial undertaken at Woolwich Job Centre
  11. cf: min. 12.1.5.9 (School of Health & Social Care): Late life crisis: A key to understanding long-term wellbeing in the over-50s

Application Ref: / RESEARCH PROPOSALS
12.37 / 12.2.5.1 / (School of Health & Social Care / Dept. of Psychology and Counselling)
TITLE OF RESEARCH: Mental health literacy and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Subject to minor amendments, the application was approved for submission to the Chair for approval by Chair’s Action.
12.38 / 12.2.5.2 / (School of Education)
TITLE OF RESEARCH: Literacy by Design
Subject to minor amendments, the application was approved for submission to the Chair for approval by Chair’s Action.
12.39 / 12.2.5.3 / (School of Education)
TITLE OF RESEARCH: Facilitating EAL Learners’ attainment using ICT-based strategies
The Committee requested that the application be resubmitted to the next or a subsequent meeting for further review.
12.40 / 12.2.5.4 / (School of Health & Social Care / Dept. Acute & Continuing Care)
TITLE OF RESEARCH: Evaluation of the Acutely Ill Adult Course
Subject to minor amendments, the application was approved for submission to the Chair for approval by Chair’s Action.
12.41 / 12.2.5.5 / (School of Engineering)
TITLE OF RESEARCH: Educational requirements in sustainability / MSc in Sustainability
Subject to minor amendments, the application was approved for submission to the Chair for approval by Chair’s Action.
12.42 / 12.2.5.6 / (School of Education)
TITLE OF RESEARCH: What is the nature of the experience and working practices of primary education students who are required to write and illustrate a picture book for young children as their final assignment on a Children’s Literature course?
Subject to minor amendments, the application was approved for submission to the Chair for approval by Chair’s Action.
12.43 / 12.2.5.7 / (School of Health & Social Care)
TITLE OF RESEARCH: Evaluation of action learning in a leadership module
Subject to minor amendments, the application was approved for submission to the Chair for approval by Chair’s Action.
12.44 / 12.2.5.8 / (School of Humanities & Social Sciences)
TITLE OF RESEARCH: ARTA: Activating the Reminiscence Theatre Archive
Subject to amendments and further comments, the application was approved for submission to the Chair for approval by Chair’s Action.
12.45 / 12.2.5.9 / (School of Law)
TITLE OF RESEARCH: Family Law Research Project
Subject to minor amendments, the application was approved for submission to the Chair for approval by Chair’s Action.
12.46 / 12.2.5.10 / (School of Engineering)
TITLE OF RESEARCH: Improving Utilisation and Operation Efficiency of a Testing Facility
APPLICATION WITHDRAWN PENDING RDC APPROVAL
12.47 / 12.2.5.11 / (School of Science)
TITLE OF RESEARCH: Time trends in meal composition and their impact on glycaemic control and health in South Asian males in Kent
Subject to minor amendments, the application was approved for submission to the Chair for approval by Chair’s Action.
12.48 / 12.2.5.12 / (School of Science)
TITLE OF RESEARCH: An investigation into the comparison between gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS) and an accelerant detection canine in the detection of flammable liquids
Subject to minor amendments, the application was approved for submission to the Chair for approval by Chair’s Action.
12.49 / 12.2.5.13 / (School of Science)
TITLE OF RESEARCH: Identity, tourism and inshore fishing in the English Channel and southern North Sea
Subject to minor amendments, the application was approved for submission to the Chair for approval by Chair’s Action.
12.50 / 12.2.5.14 / (School of Science)
TITLE OF RESEARCH: Factors affecting food choice and the status and perceptions of health of a rural and urban population in San Martin, Peru
Subject to minor amendments, the application was approved for submission to the Chair for approval by Chair’s Action.
12.51 / 12.2.5.15 / (GMI)
TITLE OF RESEARCH: Chinese foreign relations: the case of the Port of Piraeus from the 1950s to the 2000s
Subject to minor amendments, the application was approved for submission to the Chair for approval by Chair’s Action.
CHAIR’S ACTION
12.52 /
  1. The Committee ratified the decision of the Chair to approve the following amendment to a previously approved application:
  1. Cf. 09/10.6.5.9 (School of Health & Social Care):
    TITLE OF RESEARCH: ‘Always look on the bright side of life’: Significant life events, subjective wellbeing, resilience and transitions to higher education
Amendments to design of research to provide or experimental and control conditions.
  1. Cf. 10/11.4.5.18 (Information & Library Services):
    TITLE OF RESEARCH: Digital Literacies
Revisions to online survey
  1. Cf. 10/11.4.5.18 (School of Science)
    TITLE OF RESEARCH: Human Metabolic Profiling
Appointment of additional researcher; revised timelines for study to 5 years; updated safety assessment
POLICY ON COLLECTION OF BLOOD
12.53 / The Committee received and, after consideration, approved a draft policy on the collection of blood. It was agreed that draft procedures for collection of blood should be considered by the Health and Safety Committee and the Secretary was requested to forward the procedures to the University Safety Officer to progress.
SCHOOL REC ANNUAL REPORTS
12.54 / The Committee received a report on ethical review of projects managed by the Natural Resources Institute for the academic year 2011-12. Members were asked to provide, where they had not already done so, an annual report on ethical reviews and issues arising from their School for the next meeting.
DATES OF MEETINGS FOR 2012 - 2013
12.55 / (N.B. all meetings start at 10 a.m.)
Tuesday 19th February 2013 (papers required by 5th February)
Queen Anne Court 075, Greenwich
Friday 26th April 2013 (papers required by 12th April)
Queen Anne Court 075, Greenwich
Tuesday 9th July 2013 (papers required by 25th June)
Southwood S309/310, Avery Hill
Papers would in each case be required at least two weeks before the meeting to be included in the agenda.
The meeting ended at 1.00 p.m.

UREC 12 M-2 4th December 2012 1