Ethics and Travel Update

Contact information for MERI

Visit the MERI contact page to learn more about the team.

General inquiries: bblaher@unimelb.edu.au
Grants: mgse-grants@unimelb.edu.au
Graduate research: mgse-research@unimelb.edu.au

Change to Ethics support contacts
As of 2021, MERI and REPS will no longer support Ethics enquiries, contact numbers and links have been provided below. Please save and bookmark relevant pages.

Ethics Updates

Research Ethics Processes and Systems (REPS) Program

The Infonetics Ethics Review Manager (ERM) is now fully operational for researchers to apply to conduct studies involving humans, and the REPS program will conclude on Friday 18 December. Support for ethics will no longer be available from the REPS team after this date, at which point the REPS email inbox will be unattended.

Ethics support contacts

Infonetica technical support

General human ethics support

Human Research Ethics Committees (HREC)

  • General information, including meeting dates and committee membership, can be found on the HREC page.
  • For information regarding a specific HREC, please contact the Research Ethics Officer assigned to that committee, found under the Committee Membership of the HREC website.
  • HREC queries can be emailed to the Human Ethics Enquiries team.

Apply for ethics approval

Complaints or concerns

  • Any complaints or concerns about the conduct of a research project should be emailed to the Research Integrity Administrator. You can also call on (03) 8344 1376.

Ethics Reminders

  • Research activity in government schools and early childhood settings

    All research and evaluation activity involving Victorian government schools and Victorian early childhood services requires approval through the Department of Education and Training’s (DET’s) Research in Schools and Early Childhood settings (RISEC) process.

    The move to increased restrictions across Victoria necessitates that the DET again pauses the RISEC process and research and evaluation activities involving schools and early childhood sites. These activities are suspended for the remainder of 2020. 

    Therefore, the following should not proceed:

    • RISEC-approved research and evaluations
    • Any other contact with schools or early childhood sites, staff, or children to conduct, or to recruit for, research and evaluation activity
    • RISEC applications and amendment requests.

    There is no guarantee that this suspension of activities will not continue into next year.  MERI encourages all supervisors to continue to discuss with Graduate Researchers how to redesign their project so that it can go forward.

  • Catholic Education Melbourne (CEM): Applications to conduct research

    CEM is still accepting applications to conduct research in CEM schools and these applications will be subjected to the usual review process. However, even if approved, researchers are not yet permitted to approach schools until they are given written permission by CEM. All approvals at the moment are ‘conditional’. Some projects have been exempt from this current ban on approaching schools (e.g. research that has been instigated by a school not an external researcher, or research that had already begun pre-COVID), but this is considered by CEM.

  • Travel updates: China, Hong Kong and Indonesia

    China

    China will not allow most foreigners to enter China due to COVID-19 and direct flights between China and Australia have been significantly reduced. DFAT advises that if, despite that advice, you travel to China you will be subject to 14 days mandatory quarantine and quarantine requirements may change at short notice. If you’re already in China and wish to return to Australia, DFAT recommends you do so as soon as possible by commercial means. Australians are advised that they may be at risk of arbitrary detention.

    Hong Kong

    National Security legislation for Hong Kong came into effect on 1 July 2020. This law could be interpreted broadly and the full extent of the law and how it will be applied is not yet clear. You could break the law without intending to. You may be at increased risk of detention on vaguely defined national security grounds. Visit the Smart Traveller website and select 'Local Laws' to find out more.

    Indonesia

    New regulations are in place for researchers wishing to conduct research in Indonesia and foreign researchers are advised to confirm compliance with following new regulations:

    “Foreign nationals conducting research in Indonesia are advised to reconfirm their compliance with local regulations, following a legislative amendment in July that introduced new requirements. Foreign researchers must now seek ethical approval from the Research, Technology and Higher Education Ministry, alongside the pre-existing visa and permit requirements for conducting research. Penalties for non-compliance with this policy now include criminal prosecution with the possibility of imprisonment. Travellers intending to conduct research are advised to contact their nearest Indonesian Embassy for advice.”

    The University of Melbourne would like to emphasise that researchers are to contact their nearest embassy or consulate for specific guidance if they are currently conducting research in Indonesia or will be in the future.

    For more information:

    Email the Research Integrity Unit

    University travel portal

    The University’s health and safety travel portal has been updated with the most recent DFAT travel advice.

  • AIATSIS Code of Ethics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research

    AIATSIS has announced the release of the AIATSIS Code of Ethics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research (AIATSIS Code of Ethics) in conjunction with a Guide to applying the AIATSIS Code of Ethics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research. These documents will supersede and replace the Guidelines for Ethical Research in Australian Indigenous Studies 2012 (GERAIS).

    Download the Code  

    Download the Guide