Hi Guys,

Does anybody know if a second ethics application can be submitted without first being signed off by my supervisor?

I have initial ethics approval to develop a survey and get it validated by experts, however, I need to submit another application with my finalised survey and my ONLY supervisor has gone on sick and is not returning any emails. I need to submit this ethics application by the end of June because the ethics panel will break for the summer holidays by end of July and if I don't submit it, I will be waiting until September to start collecting my data!!

I have emailed my supervisor who also happens to be the Director of Graduate Education at my University so can't email them for advice either. I have emailed her temporary replacement and had no response. I've also emailed a member of the ethics panel and had no response. I'm starting to freak out a little bit.

I was thinking that because I have already had my first application signed off by my supervisor that it might not be essential for the second submission to also be signed off but I'm not sure. Does anyone have any idea??

I don't know, but if you really need to get hold of people urgently it's best to pick up the phone or go and see them, rather than waiting for an email response. If your supervisor is going to be back soon I would just wait for that.

I would be stalking the necessary people if it wasn't for the fact that I live 250 miles away from my University and when I have tried to phone I keep getting voice mail. I know a lot of people are starting to take holidays around this time of year. My supervisor did tell me she would be off for a few weeks but she would still be available via email but I know she's had a few unexpected complications which has resulted in her being hospitalized for a lot longer than she expected so I'm assuming she hasn't got access to her emails.

Oy, I so understand. My supervisor her her back about two months ago. I really feel for her because I know that she's not the type to take time off unless it's absolutely necessary. However, it's also resulted in almost two months of me being in a holding pattern. I feel a bit of a bad person for being frustrated, considering that her absence is certainly justified, but I'm very antsie.

I'm the same, I know she's having a hard time and I don't want to hassle her, if I was at a different stage of my research it might not even have affected me but I am getting very worried.

Can't you explain the issue to another academic at the uni and get them to sign it? Do you have a second supervisor? Or a more senior academic who is the 'line manager' of your supervisor.

At the moment, nobody else is willing to sign it. I only have the one supervisor and she is the boss of most of the other academics that I know. Her boss is currently away on holiday.

I'm thinking if nobody gets back to me I'm just going to submit it with an explanation as to why it's not signed and hope for the best. If I don't get it back with approval before the summer holidays it will add a good 2 months onto my research.