Research Ethics

All the research involves healthy or diseased human participants and requires full ethics approval by the local Research Ethics Committee. Issues related to risks, discomfort, personal data and confidentiality, as well as training of staff in how to properly obtain consent of participants have been established at FMRIB for nine years. We continually review and update our procedures and staff training with input from the newly established Clinical Trials Office at Oxford University that also advises us on research governance. Governance is assessed informally by supervisors in one-to-one meetings with staff, and more formally in the FMRIB Themes meetings, where projects are reviewed by all members of staff for critique and feedback. To date, we have complied fully with the local Research Ethics Committee without incident.