Frequently Asked Questions

How do I make an amendment to an already approved application?

To create an Amendment of an already approved application, (you can only create a sub-form when an application has been approved), select a created project in the Work Area. Select the Create Sub Form tile, choose the sub-form you require and click Create. The new forms will appear in a navigation interface at the top of the screen. A form will be part of the main branch, where as a sub-form will attach itself to the main form it is part of. This information can be found on page 9 of the applicant guidance. Please note the above applies to amendments on research ethics applications. This doe snot apply to Visiting Scholar Due Diligence applications.

Why is the Principal Investigator section greyed out?

This is a pre-filled section that is linked to your login in details. There is an issue with the address information being pulled through to the system, but this will be rectified shortly. In the meantime, it will ask you for your preferred telephone number, so please complete this and then continue to the next page.

How do I know my application has been submitted?

Once you and any of the Other Collaborators, Director of Studies or Supervisor has signed the form, you will receive a notification to say that this has been completed and the form will be submitted to the relevant committee. Upon submission, you will receive a notification that the form has been submitted and will be reviewed by the committee at which stage, the form will be locked. If all mandatory questions have been answered and the form shows as Submission in Progress, you will not need to do anything else, it will automatically submit in a few minutes and then show as submitted with a form submitted message coming up (unless waiting for other signatures). You will be able to see what status the submission is in with regards to the review process. From inside a project, a status bar has been added to indicate the submission status the form is currently in: o Not Submitted - when the form is newly created and has not been progressed to any review status. o Submission in Progress – when the form is complete and is in the process of being submitted. o Submission Failed – when the form submission has failed. A column called “Action Required” will indicate if any actions are required from the applicant. When the “Action required” status is set to “Yes” the text will be blue and the user can click it to run the completeness check. It will inform the user what actions are required. This information can be found on page 16 of the applicant guidance.

I can’t find my other collaborator’s email address when I request their signature.

Please note, any other investigators/collaborators who are external to the University, cannot access the system due to the single sign on authentication and needing a University account, so will not be able to sign the form online via the system. Should you need to provide details of any other investigators, please upload this information within the "Any other miscellaneous supporting documents" at the end of the Ethical Aspects of Research section. The FREIC Committees do not require their signatures to review and approve your application. This information can be found on page 14 of the applicant guidance and in the form on that question. If the other collaborators are Plymouth University staff/students, it might just mean that they haven’t logged in to the system yet and they need to do that to activate their account. You will need to ask them to log in at https://apply-ethicsonlinesystem.plymouth.ac.uk/. If they can login, it will activate their account and you will be able to find them when searching for their email address. However, if they try to login, but access is denied, then please contact ethics-online-system@plymouth.ac.uk

I haven't heard anything about my submitted application

Please check the status of your application. If your application is showing as "no further action required" and "submitted" status, then you will need to contact your faculty ethics committee to ask about your application status.

Signature request is showing as invalidated

If you’ve received a signature request that is now invalidated, that means that the main applicant has unlocked the form and made changes since they made the request for your signature and therefore has invalidated the request (it’s to ensure that you don’t sign an out of date version of the form). You will need to contact the main applicant to ask them to re-request your signature.

Can I unlock my form once I’ve signed it?

Please note, that if you need to make changes to a form you have signed where you have another collaborator on your form but either haven’t requested their signature yet or are still awaiting their signature, you have the option to unlock the form by selecting unlock from the actions on the left hand side panel. This will unlock the form and you can make the necessary changes. You will have to re-sign the form once those changes have been made and request the necessary signatures again. If however your form has been submitted to the committee, then you need to contact the committee to ask them to send you your form back to make any changes. This information can be found on page 18 of the applicant guidance.

What does the note “There is a new version of the project Update” mean at the top of my project?

Please note, if there has been an update to the form, a notice will be listed under the important notices on the login page with the date and time of the update. Any user with an application in progress on the date and time shown will need to update their form, by clicking on update at the top of the page before it can be submitted. If you are waiting for your form to be signed by another collaborator/supervisor/director of studies, then you will need to perform this update, re-sign and re-send for signature to submit your application. This information can be found on page 18 of the applicant guidance and on the login page of the system.

How to I make apply for an extension to an already approved visit?

To request an extension to an already approved visit you will need to complete a new application detailing the dates, reason for the extension, and any other changes from the original application for the visit.