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Safe, responsible and ethical research

Safe, responsible and ethical research

The Society requires that the research we support be conducted in a safe and ethical manner. Grant recipients must obtain their own institution’s health and safety and ethical approval before funding can be transferred.

Independent individuals and teams that are not affiliated with an institution will need to complete a risk assessment and ethical assessment for their project, which will be formally reviewed by the Society.

All projects should adhere to the Society’s code of practice for the grants programme and its policy on ethics and sustainable research and fieldwork.

We encourage all applicants also to consider, and address in their applications, our Fieldwork Principles. 

Risk assessment

All RGS-IBG grants are awarded on the condition that a risk assessment be submitted for the project. Projects undertaken by students and academics must obtain risk assessment approval from their university. Independent projects undertaken by individuals and teams not affiliated with a university must complete and submit the below risk assessment form, which will be reviewed by the Society.

Risk assessment form

A good starting point for anyone creating a risk assessment for the first time is University College London (UCL) Department of Geography's Introduction to Risk Assessment. Your risk assessment must not be generic, but be designed around the specific risks you may face depending on the location of your project and the nature of your research. UCL's hazard tables provide examples of the kinds of risks you may need to consider.    

 

Ethical assessment

The Society requires the research it funds to be conducted in a responsible and ethical manner, and we are committed to supporting projects that carefully consider and attempt to avoid negative environmental, social and cultural impacts. Where relevant, successful applicants must obtain their institution’s ethical approval before grant funds can be paid. Independent projects not affiliated with an institution must complete and submit the below ethical assessment form, which will be reviewed by the Society's Grants Programme Ethics Committee.

Ethical assessment form

Before filling out the form, you should think about the potential consequences of your research. For example, could your work offend the cultural sensitivities of the people you are working among? Have you gained appropriate consent from, or on behalf of, participants or others affected by the research? What measures are you taking to ensure the confidentiality of information supplied by research subjects and the anonymity of respondents (unless otherwise agreed with research subjects and respondents)?

The review process should be proportional to the likely risk (for example, research on vulnerable groups or at-risk populations demands more careful attention than other forms of research). 

The following resources are a good starting point for thinking about the ethical dimensions of your research.

Additional resources on codes of conduct for field research can be found in our Higher Education resources.