Research ethics training

Health Research Authority

The Health Research Authority provides three modules:

• Research involving participants lacking mental capacity
• Research involving exposure to ionising radiation
• Research involving human tissue

Medical Research Council (MRC)

The MRC provides e-learning courses on regulation, ethics and governance topics including:

• Research, GDPR Confidentiality
• Research and Human Tissue Legislation
• Making an application using the Integrated Research Applications System (IRAS)
• Good Research Practice

UKRIO

The UKRIO research ethics online training suite on Moodle provides three standalone courses:

1. The ethics of research involving human participants: an introduction* - offers a comprehensive introduction to the principles and practice of research ethics in studies involving human participants.
2. Navigating the complexity, risks, and benefits of emotionally challenging or sensitive research – explores emotionally challenging and sensitive research (ECSR) – what it is, the potential risks and benefits, how context and perspective shape it, and key practical considerations.
3. Research with children and young people - focuses on the unique responsibilities and ethical considerations when working with younger participants. 

National Institute of Health Research (NIHR)

The NIHR provides a number of national courses related to Good Clinical Practice (GCP), Informed Consent and related awareness activities including:

1. Good Clinical Practice* (GCP) Introduction E-Learning
2. Fundamentals of Clinical Research Delivery for Laboratory Staff
3. Informed Consent With Different Communities

* Note: If your research funder (e.g. Wellcome Trust) requires you to complete research ethics training,  you can fulfil this requirement in several ways, including:

• Clinical researchers: completing
  • both online courses:
    • NIHR Good Clinical Practice E-learning AND
    • the University Introduction Research Integrity Moodle course OR
  • the UKRIO Course 1 (The ethics of research involving human participants: an introduction)
• Everyone: completing the UKRIO Research Ethics Course 1 (The ethics of research involving human participants: an introduction)

US online ethics training

Online training is provided by several US-based institutions. These are designed for the US research environment and are best suited to researchers funded by US funders or carrying out research in US institutions.

• NIH Office of Extramural Research - Protecting Human Research Participants
• US online Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative - Protection of Human Research Subjects

Research Ethics and Good Research Practice

It is recommended that you complete one of the UKRIO research ethics training courses noted above. However, we also offer access to the following Epigeum online courses via Moodle:

• Ethics 1: Good Research Practice
• Ethics 2: Working with Human Subjects