The School expects all research undertaken by its staff and students to meet high ethical standards, and to conform to generally accepted ethical principles and the values of the University of Cambridge.
If your research involves (i) the participation of human participants outside the research team, or (ii) personal data, you must obtain ethical approval before recruiting participants. External funders require this as standard, and you should ensure that your experiment design adheres to any specific requirements from the funder, as well as the University policy.
Ethics guidance
The School provides guidance on experiment design for the most common types of technology and physical sciences research involving human participants: see the guidance pages.
Many departments provide ethical advice & guidance directly – check your Department website.
For University-level guidance on research ethics and related issues, and links to the policies that you must adhere to, see the University of Cambridge Research Integrity website.
Joint Schools Research Ethics Committee
The Joint Schools Research Ethics Committee (JSREC) covers the School of the Physical Sciences and the School of Technology. JSREC is part of the University process of ethics and integrity review for research. It provides guidance on research design, provides advice to Departments, supports Departments in investigating any potential ethical breach, and provides ethical review for research involving human participation or personal data.
The Terms of Reference of the Joint Schools Research Ethics Committee are currently being updated and will be published online at the end of Lent Term 2025.
For a list of other Research Ethics Committees within the University, see Departmental and Specialist University Research Ethics Committees.
How to apply for ethical approval
Before applying for ethical approval of your research, please read the guidance pages to ensure that your research design takes into account all necessary considerations.
Depending on your department, you will apply either to your department or to the Joint Schools Research Ethics Committee.
Group 1: Researchers in departments which have a Research Ethics Committee or procedure
If you are in one of the following Departments, apply to your Department REC or ethics contact, linked here:
- Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology(CEB internal Teams Channel, CEB access only)
- Department of Computer Science and Technology
- Department of Engineering
- Department of Geography
- Judge Business School (CJBS intranet, CJBS access only)
If your Department REC is unable to reach a decision, they will escalate the application to the Joint Schools REC for additional review.
Group 2: Chairs and Secretaries of Department RECs
You may escalate an application to JSREC if the Departmental REC or Procedure has been unable to reach a decision. To do this, please email the Research Facilitator for your School with the following information:
- The original application as received by the Department.
- Notes of the discussion which has already taken place, concerns raised, and the reason(s) for referring the application to JSREC.
- Send this to:
- School of the Physical Sciences: SPSResearchFacilitator@admin.cam.ac.uk
- School of Technology: ResearchStrat@tech.cam.ac.uk
- For timescales and possible outcomes, see JSREC information for applicants.
Group 3: Researchers in departments without a Research Ethics Committee or procedure
If you are in one of the following departments, apply directly to JSREC. For how to do this, see JSREC information for applicants.
- Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics
- Department of Earth Sciences
- Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy
- Department of Physics
- Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics
- Institute of Astronomy
- Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences
- Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry