Faculty of Science Department of Information Systems

All research in the Department involving human subjects requires ethics approval before it can proceed.

The Departmental Human Ethics Advisory Group (DHEAG) oversees all research projects involving human subjects within the department, and reports to the Humanities and Applied Sciences Human Ethics Sub-Committee.

Members of the DHEAG for 2009
Committee Chair: Dr Sherah Kurnia
Secretary: Jen Sullivan

Dr Atif Ahmad
Dr Rachelle Bosua
Hilary Davis- Research Only staff representative
Nilma Perera (Sem. 1),  Bernd Ploderer (Sem. 2) - Research Student representatives

The DHEAG meets once a month from February to November. All applications must be submitted by the deadline (see below) to allow adequate time for the Committee members to review each application before the meeting. In addition to the online submission that must be done via THEMIS (http://themis.unimelb.edu.au) the department requires:

• an original single-sided signed copy
• five double-sided photocopies
• a signed Checklist.
• an electronic copy of all documents zipped into one file to be emailed to the Secretary (jens@unimelb.edu.au) 

After the meeting, if amendments are required prior to the approval, only one original, single-sided copy, duly signed application needs to be resubmitted by the resubmission due-date shown below.

Meeting No.	Deadline Date & Time - 11 a.m. (Applications)	Committee Meeting	Application Resubmission Date & Time - 5 p.m.	Meeting Time Start	End	Venue
1/09	27 January	3 February	10 February	12 noon	1.15 p.m.	5.07
2/09	10 March	17 March	24 March	12 noon	1.15 p.m.	5.07
3/09	31 March	7 April	14 April	12 noon .	1.15 p.m.	5.07
4/09	28 April	5 May	12 May	12 noon	1.15 p.m.	5.07
5/09	2 June	9 June	16 June	12 noon	1.15 p.m.	5.07
6/09	30 June	7 July	14 July	12 noon	1.15 p.m.	5.07
7/09	28 July	4 August	11 August	12 noon	1.15 p.m.	5.07
8/09	8 September	15 September	22 September	12 noon	1.15 p.m.	5.07
9/09	13 October	20 October	27 October	12 noon	1.15 p.m.	5.07
10/09	3 November	10 November	17 November	12 noon .	1.15 p.m.	5.07

All applications must come through the DHEAG. In about 90% of applications within DIS, the DHEAG grants approval. The other 10% are forwarded to the Humanities and Applied Sciences Human Ethics Sub-Committee for approval by their deadline.

The DHEAG also monitors projects with ethics clearance. Individual researchers must maintain conditions of approval for projects undertaken and are further subject to the University's standards of research integrity.

Please make sure that your application is completed thoroughly before submitting to the DHEAG to ensure the eligibility for a review by the Committee. The Committee will reject applications that require proof-reading or are clearly sub-standard. Please ensure that you comply with all the requirements specified in the Checklist. Failure to do so will result in a delay in processing your application of at least five weeks. Supervisors of any student projects are responsible for the ethical conduct of the research and the eligibility of the application submitted.

Important information for all applicants:

To access THEMIS you will need to activate your ITS account from:  http://accounts.unimelb.edu.au

1. The DIS DHEAG maintains a process for handling ethics applications. All staff and student research projects (including those involving Honours and coursework higher degree students) must follow this process.
   • Process Summary (Word doc) 
   • Detailed Process (Word doc) 
   • Amendments:  Please note Amendments follow the same process as above, however only submit 1 original signed copy to the Secretary.
   • Research Projects that require ethics approval from external organisations, please contact the Secretary or Chair directly.
2. Responsibilities of staff and research students (Word doc) 
3. Local (DIS) monitoring procedures (Word doc) 
4. Data storage/retention and destruction procedures (Word doc)