Contact and tasks

On these pages, you will find information about the tasks, composition, and contact details of the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences at the University of Groningen (EC-BSS). BSS researchers and (Ba/Ma/PhD) students are advised to consult the EC-BSS website where more detailed information is available .

Contact

General questions?
The EC-BSS secretary can be contacted via email: ec-bss rug.nl.

Are you a BSS researcher with a question about a specific application?
Please contact your discipline-specific chamber directly, and make sure to include the application number (study ID / research code). Contact information can be found under "Department-specific information" on the internal BSS website (infonet).

Are you a research participant with a concern or complaint about your participation in a research project?
If you believe that the responsible BSS researcher has violated ethical guidelines or your privacy, and did not deal with this to your satisfaction, please send an email to the secretary: ec-bss@rug.nl. If possible, please include the study ID / research code and any relevant correspondence.

All other questions, comments, and suggestions, can also be directed to the EC-BSS secretary, who will discuss your email with the EC-BSS chair or vice-chair, if applicable. Also, while we do our best to keep these pages up to date, please feel free to report any incomplete or incorrect information to the secretary as well.

EC-BSS composition

The EC-BSS has one discipline-specific chamber for each department in the faculty: Psychology, Sociology, Pedagogical & Educational Sciences, and Teacher Education. The EC-BSS consists of the chairs of the four discipline-specific chambers, the executive secretary, and at least one other member, all appointed by the Faculty Board. The other members of the discipline-specific chambers are appointed by their Director of Research. The EC-BSS may be supplemented (either temporarily or permanently) with non-voting advisors.

Tasks

The EC-BSS reviews proposals for research carried out by, or under the supervision of, researchers who are affiliated with BSS, including research conducted by PhD students, Master students and Bachelor students affiliated with BSS.

Review by the EC-BSS follows the NETHICS code. Besides, as most research in the Faculty BSS involves human participants and falls under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), ethics review is conducted in close collaboration with the Faculty Privacy and Security (P&S) coordinators and data stewards.

Medical research
Research that falls under the Medical Research Involving Human Participants Act (Wet medisch-wetenschappelijk onderzoek met mensen or WMO)  cannot be reviewed by the EC-BSS but must instead be reviewed by a Medical Ethics Review Board (Medische Ethische Toetsingscommissie, METc), such as the METc Groningen.

Note. When in doubt, you may also ask the METc to assess whether your research is subject to the WMO. If not, then you will receive a “non-WMO” exemption letter from the METc. This letter should be included as an attachment to your subsequent EC-Request application.

Research conducted at the UMCG

Please note that all research conducted at or via the UMCG should be reviewed either by the METc Groningen or by the UMCG Central Review Committee (Centrale Toetsingscommissie, CTc) as per UMCG regulations. This means that the EC-BSS never reviews UMCG research.

Policy on review of PhD projects

Applications for review of the projects of PhD students by the EC-BSS are only considered if the PhD student is affiliated with the BSS Graduate School. This means that the projects of PhD students affiliated with another Graduate School are not eligible for review by the EC-BSS – even if there is a BSS supervisor (e.g., co-promotor) or collaborator.

For external PhD students (‘buitenpromovendi’), eligibility for review by the EC-BSS is determined based on the affiliation of the first promotor. In case the first promotor is affiliated with the BSS faculty, but the external PhD student plans to asks an ethics or research committee other than the EC-BSS to review their PhD project, then the PhD student should inform the EC-BSS about this plan by sending an email to the EC-BSS secretary, with a cc to the BSS graduate school.