Expression of Interest: Lay Members for the Institutional Research Ethics Committee (IREC)
Health Sciences University is seeking additional Lay Members to join its Institutional Research Ethics Committee (IREC). This is a voluntary, unpaid role, open to members of the public. You do not need any experience of research or of university committees to take part.
This is an opportunity to contribute to the ethical review and oversight of research that has the potential to improve health, wellbeing, and patient care.
As a Lay Member, you will help ensure that research at the University is carried out to high ethical standards and is looked at from the perspective of research participants and the wider public. Your voice will support ethical decision-making, safeguarding participant welfare, fairness, and public trust in research.
About the committee and what it does
IREC is the University’s senior committee for research ethics. It reports to the University’s Research and Innovation Committee and, through it, to the Academic Board. Its role is to make sure that research carried out at Health Sciences University is done to high ethical standards, and that the people who take part in research as well as the researchers themselves are treated safely, fairly and with respect.
Reviewing individual research applications is only one part of the committee’s work. Its wider role includes:
- Setting and maintaining standards: developing and keeping up to date the University’s research ethics policies, procedures and guidance.
- Overseeing school-level ethics panels: checking that ethics review is consistent and of good quality across the University and considering appeals when someone disagrees with a decision.
- Checking that approved research is carried out as promised: each year the committee looks at a sample of approved projects (a light-touch audit) to confirm that commitments on consent, data handling, participant welfare and safeguarding are being kept.
- Looking ahead: keeping an eye on new and emerging issues in research such as the use of artificial intelligence and encouraging a positive, supportive culture of research ethics across the University.
- Acting when concerns arise: where there are serious ethical concerns, the committee can ask for research to be paused or stopped until those concerns have been put right.
As a Lay Member you would contribute to all of this work, not only to reviewing applications.
Who can apply?
We are looking for individuals who are not employed by HSU, are not current HSU students and do not have a professional research background.
We welcome expressions of interest from people with diverse experiences and perspectives, particularly those with backgrounds in:
- Patient, carer, or service user representation
- Community or voluntary sector organisations
- Legal practice or legal governance (particularly consent, capacity, healthcare, or data law)
- Data protection or information governance
- Education, safeguarding, or school governance
Why get involved?
This is an opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to health and healthcare research and help ensure research is conducted safely, ethically, and inclusively.
As a Lay Member, you’ll bring the public perspective to important research decisions and to how the University oversees research more widely. You will also develop your experience of governance and ethics review within a university setting.
What we’re looking for (eligibility criteria)
Essential
- Experience reviewing written information and contributing to discussions constructively
- Willing to represent the interests of research participants and the wider public
- Committed to principles of confidentiality, fairness, and treating people equally and with respect
- Available to attend approximately five committee meetings per year and undertake occasional document reviews between meetings.
Desirable
- Experience as a patient, service user, carer, or research participant.
- Experience of serving on a committee, board, panel, governing body, or community group.
- Experience in the voluntary, community, public, legal, education, information governance, or healthcare sectors.
- An interest in health, wellbeing, social care, research ethics, or public involvement.
- Knowledge or experience relating to consent, safeguarding, data protection, equality and diversity, or advocacy.
How to apply
If you are interested in this voluntary role, please email research@hsu.ac.uk with a brief summary of how you meet the eligibility criteria outlined above (no more than one page is needed, and you do not need to send a formal CV).
Applications close on Sunday 16th August.
What happens next
We will acknowledge your email. Everyone who expresses an interest and broadly meets the criteria above will be invited to an informal, no-obligation conversation with the Committee Chair and the Committee Secretary. This is a chance for you to find out more about the role and for us to talk through your experience and interests together before any appointment is confirmed.
