Ethical guidelines and application form overview
The University's new Ethical Guidelines for Conducting Research with Human Participants and Human Ethics Application Form have been updated.
Ethical guidelines
The guidelines were developed as a direct response to the 2024 Research Ethics Survey and 2025 Ethical Guidelines Consultation, where researchers emphasised the importance of having guidelines that are accessible, easy to navigate and provide clear pathways for the diverse range of research undertaken at the University.
The new ethical guidelines are presented in a modern SharePoint communication site, allowing you to easily browse sections, use the navigation menu to jump between topics, or use the search function to find content across the full guidelines.
The guidelines site is organised into three parts and appendices:
- Part 1 - Ethical principles, standards and policies that apply to all forms of Human Participant research
- Part 2 - Ethical considerations for specific groups of Human Participants and research contexts
- Part 3 - Administrative requirements for submitting and managing different types of ethics applications in Ethics RM, including Ethics RM User Guides.
Appendices include the Glossary, Abbreviations, References, Tables, Figures and Templates.
For more information on navigating the ethical guidelines, refer to the Ethical Guidelines site.
These Ethical Guidelines are effective from 13 April 2026 and replace the former Guiding Principles and Applicants’ Manuals for AHREC and UAHPEC.
For information on how Health New Zealand employees can access the Ethical Guidelines, refer to the Human ethics external onboarding guide.
What’s new in the Ethical Guidelines?
Improved accessibility
The guidelines are now presented in plain language as a single SharePoint communication site with three parts that can be easily navigated by researchers using the navigation menu and hyperlinked pages and definitions.
Committee scope
Simple guidance is provided on the scope of HDEC, AHREC and UAHPEC in response to concerns about ‘Committee scope confusion’.
Expanded guidance on ethical principles
The guidelines elaborate on foundational research ethics principles, including Te Ara Tika, and offer more detailed guidance on harms, benefits and processes for obtaining informed consent to participate in research.
Low-risk test
A low-risk test has been introduced to differentiate ‘Low-Risk’ and ‘More Than Low-Risk’ ethics applications, which will help to stream ethics applications into the 'Expedited Review' and 'Full Review' pathways more effectively.
Revised guidance on data and secondary use of data
This section has been updated to reflect the latest ethical guidance on research data management and the secondary use of data.
Artificial intelligence in research
A new section has been added to provide guidance on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems in research.
Decision types and condition types
Clearer definitions of standard conditions, minor conditions and non-minor conditions. Applications with standard and minor conditions can be ‘Approved with Comment’. This is expected to increase the proportion of applications approved at first review and to support improved processing timeframes for AHREC and UAHPEC.
For a detailed overview of all the changes following the consultation, refer to the Ethical guidelines consultation – Feedback summary report.
Human Ethics Application Form
The new Human Ethics Application Form has been developed to align with the ethical guidelines and put their principles into practice. It replaces the previous separate AHREC and UAHPEC forms.
The new form was developed in direct response to feedback about the AHREC and UAHPEC ethics forms from the 2024 Research Ethics Survey, with concerns around duplication, clarity, and ease of use.
What is changing for applicants
- A single application form is now used for all human ethics submissions to AHREC and UAHPEC.
- The form automatically directs applications to the correct committee based on activity type.
- Applications are triaged to the expedited pathway (low-risk) or full review pathway (more than low‑risk) based on the response to the low-risk test in the form.
- Form logic reduces duplication by only showing questions relevant to the type of research being undertaken.
- Questions are structured to support ethical reflection and ensure key principles are clearly addressed.
- The form captures the information needed for high‑quality prescreening and ethical review.
For more information
Questions and further information
The guidelines were updated as part of the Research Ethics Improvement Plan project. For more details on this project, see the Research ethics improvement plan.
For all other queries, email Nick Kearns, Associate Director, Operations, Ethics and Integrity: n.kearns@auckland.ac.nz.