Research Data Management: Data ethics

All research projects involving human data or where research is classed as ‘sensitive’ must undergo an ethics review within the faculty. 

See: Research Requiring Ethical Approval

Not to be confused with sensitive personal data, as defined by the Data Protection Act; data arising from sensitive research needs to be managed in accordance with DMU's Policy on Conducting Sensitive Research.

The definition of sensitive research encompasses a wide variety of research topics, but there are three broad research areas which would usually cause the research to be classified as ‘sensitive’:

• Research into illegal activities, including the collection of source data, e.g. crime statistics; 
• Research which requires access to web sites normally prohibited on university servers; including, but not limited to; pornography, or the sites of any of the organisations proscribed by the UK Government;
• Research into extremism and radicalisation. 

Responsibilities for Ethical Research

"Within a framework of good governance and appropriate training, responsibility for the conduct of ethical research must ultimately lie with the researchers themselves."