Most climate action projects engage in primary data collection and engagement with individuals or communities. For example, a climate action can include a community engagement process, interviews, surveys, or focus groups, or other participatory action research methods applied to any stage of the project. Given that you are conducting this as part of your academic program means that these activities need to be reviewed and approved as part of the Research Ethics process of the university. A blanket course ethics application is in place that covers low risk research activities (e.g., interviews with individuals not deemed to be ‘vulnerable’) but depending on the project you undertake, additional approvals may be required. In some cases, additional approvals from your host organisation may also be required. Your academic supervisor will be able to guide you through the process.
Step 1. Review the blanket BREB application and, working with your host supervisor and your academic supervisor, determine whether additional approvals are needed by that organization. If required, work with the host supervisor AND the academic supervisor to ensure that these approvals are applied for and in place prior to beginning any activities.
Step 2. Review the course Informed Consent Form and revise so that it reflects your project details. Prior to engaging in your activities you must have sign off on this form by the academic supervisor.
Few projects will be able to be completed without a REB application. In this case, you need to acquire a written confirmation from your academic supervisor (e.g., email exchange can be sufficient) and upload that to Moodle.
Format
Completed IC and approval from academic supervisor (email confirmation)
Approval required prior to any data collection/public engagement.
Assessment
Weight: Pass/Fail
Submit: to Assignment 3: REB application (Individual) in Moodle.