Melbourne School of Health SciencesSocial Work

All Social Work research projects involving human participants require ethics approval from the School Human Ethics Advisory Group (SHEAG) before they can proceed. The SHEAG reports to either the University Health Sciences Human Ethics Sub-Committee or the University Behavioural and Social Sciences Human Ethics Sub-Committee (BSS-HESC), depending upon whether the research involves patients from a hospital.

For further information, please refer to the Social Work's Human Ethics Kit 2009.

2009 members of SHEAG are:

Dr Marie Gerdtz (Chair) - Nursing
Dr Natisha Sands - Nursing
Associate Professor Elizabeth Manias - Nursing
Associate Professor Daniel Wong - Social Work
Associate Professor Lynette Joubert - Social Work
Dr Allison Williams - Nursing
Ms Robyn Faulkner - Nursing
Ms Pat Nicholson - Nursing
Ms Anna Ugalde (Student representative) - Nursing
Ms Nicole Hill (Student representative) - Social Work
Mrs Brigid Walker (Student representative) - Social Work
Dr Monica Wehner (Secretariat)

Ethics application process

All staff and student Human Ethics applications are to be submitted electronically via the Human Ethics Workbench in Themis.

This includes applications which are minimal risk, standard or approved by a duly constituted external ethics committee. Hard copies, appropriately signed, will still be required, and should be provided to the Secretariat, Monica Wehner, by the application deadline.

Help in submitting a Human Ethics application via Themis is available through Quick Reference Cards.

Applicants are invited to make themselves available to the committee to discuss their proposal during the meeting. They will have the opportunity to provide clarification on their proposal should the need arise.

PLEASE NOTE: All higher degree student proposals must have been approved by their Defence Panel prior to submission.

• The Social Work Application Flow Chart provides an overview of the ethics application process.
• A more detailed Step by Step Procedure is also available.

Committee dates

Social Work Human Ethics Advisory Group Meetings 2009

Behavioural and Social Sciences HESC Meetings 2009

Health Sciences HESC Meetings 2009

Essential links

• The Melbourne Research Office Human Ethics at the University of Melbourne website (for general and background information on Human Ethics)
• The University of Melbourne Code of Conduct for Research (setting out the responsibilities of all University researchers, staff and students in relation to the ethical framework governing research at the University).
• The National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Research Involving Humans (which sets out the policy framework for the conduct of research involving human participants).

Further information

Please contact Monica Wehner, SHEAG Secretariat, on email: mwehner@unimelb.edu.au or phone: 03 8344 0691