Ethics

Any research undertaken by Institute of Archaeology staff or students should be designed and conducted in an ethical way and be compliant with existing UCL policy and relevant legislation.

Issues to consider include how your research data is funded, sourced, analysed and disseminated.

Institute policies and guidelines

The Institute of Archaeology takes research ethics very seriously and has produced the following guidelines for Institute staff and students to adhere to:

• Policy regarding the illicit trade in antiquities
• Ethical guidelines for research
• Applying for ethical clearance for human participant research

Any enquiries may be directed to the Acting Chair of the Institute's Ethics Committee (Rachael Sparks) at IoA.ethics@ucl.ac.uk

UCL policies and guidelines

• UCL Cultural Property Policy
  This states that anyone bringing cultural property onto UCL premises must register this material with college. This includes all incoming archaeological material. The Institute offers support for this, please enquire for further details.
• UCL Cultural Property Policy Guide
• UCL Statement on Research Integrity

The legal position

• If your research involves human participants you must obtain clearance from the UCL Research Ethics Committee or National Research Ethics Service in order to be covered by UCL public liability insurance, unless your research has been declared exempt from such approval by a member of the UCL Research Ethics Committee or the Institute of Archaeology's Ethics Committee. Students should first read the Ethical guidelines for human participant research section of this website.
• Your research must be compliant with Data Protection Legislation (General Data Protection Regulation 2016 and the Data Protection Act 2018).
• Work involving human remains must be compliant with the Human Tissue Act 2004
• A Disclosure and Barring Service check (DBS) will be needed if you work in controlled or regulated activity with children or vulnerable adults. See here for further information»
• Appropriate Risk Assessments may need to be submitted. This is done via the UCL RiskNet system.
• If you conduct your research outside Britain, or your work involves international collaborators, then you must also follow any relevant international guidelines or laws for the countries in which you operate.

Ethics advice

• Anyone who wishes further advice on ethical matters should contact the Acting Chair of the Institute's Ethics Committee (Rachael Sparks) at IoA.ethics@ucl.ac.uk