Research Ethics Management System

Aston University is seeking proposals from Suppliers who are able to provide a Research Ethics Management System suitable for use within a Higher Education Environment. The Research Integrity Office (RIO) are responsible for ethics evaluation of research projects across the following stakeholder groups: · Research active staff. · Postgraduate Researchers (PGRs). · UG/PG taught students.

Ethics management consists of entirely manual processes involving email, MS Word, and MS Excel, delivered by three people. The RIO is a small team for the workload, smaller than equivalent teams at other institutions.

Whilst the team has grown, so has the complexity and volume of their workload. With the workload demand of the current process, there are not enough reviewers in the Colleges.

With this manual and unsustainable way of working, process reengineering is required with proactive and compliant solutions to allow staff to manage the ethics approval process, in an efficient environment where there is positive sentiment and an understanding of the consequences and the broader context of ethical approval. Proposals will also include ongoing hosting and maintenance provision. The full specification is available as part of the procurement documents available through Aston's e-tendering portal.