In UCC, research ethics are the responsibility of the University Ethics Committee (UEC). The UEC is a committee of Academic Council and it reports annually both to Academic Council and to Governing Body.

The chair of UEC is Professor Ciara Heavin, Dept. of Business Information Systems, Cork University Business School.

UEC has the following key responsibilities

• To develop policy and procedures governing ethics in research and research conduct

• To make recommendations to Academic Council to ensure the effective operation of ethics governance structures at UCC

• To establish and oversee ethics sub-committees

• To co-ordinate training and raise awareness of ethics and good research conduct among staff and students.

Please note that UEC does NOT process individual research proposals for ethical approval. This responsibility currently falls to three Research Ethics Committees. The nature of the research proposal (whether focused on animal research, clinical research or social research) determines the appropriate Committee (see below).

Please click on the title for a full copy of the Research Ethics Policy. This provides an introduction to the ethics committees which operate in UCC and their reporting structure.