A. Create a new application

Click the + Apply now button.

Screenshot of Apply now button

If you have created an Ethics application before, you will be familiar with the sections of the form. The same questions appear in the same order as they did in ResearchMaster. The question numbering and some of the text have been updated.

Screenshot of the human ethics form, described in the text of this page.

Click on any Section link on the left to skip to that section of the form. The completed sections will display a green tick mark, and any sections you skipped display a red X.

Screenshot of human ethics form highlighting the form section buttons on the left

Most questions are required. When you skip a required question, instructions appear in red. A word counter in the bottom right of each text box lets you know the word limit for your response.

Screenshot of red text "Q9... is required"

Screenshot showing word limit for counter

For guidance about responding to the application questions, see our Ethics webpage.

B. Personnel: Add your project team

The Personnel section is important for adding your collaborators and letting the Ethics Committee know who is doing what.

Add your team -- including yourself

You can create an application regardless of your role in the research (e.g. Primary Investigator, Research Assistant, Masters student, etc.).

Role of Researcher is where you add every member your Project Team - including yourself - and specify how they are involved. You can add people in any order. Your collaborators will receive an email notification when you confirm their Role.

Make sure the right person is listed as the Principal Investigator. In Hōkai, only the Principal Investigator can submit an ethics application.

For PhD, Masters, or Honours research applications, specific instructions appear when you select one of these options, as shown in this gif:

GIF showing the form instructions changing when you click between PhD, Masters, NA options

PhD students act as the Principal Investigator for their doctoral research, and add their Supervisor(s) under the Supervisor (for PhD Principal Investigator) role.
Masters and Honours students add their Supervisor as the Principal Investigator and select their student role.
Staff researchers choose the appropriate Principal Investigator, and add other researchers under other roles, e.g. Associate Investigator, Research Assistant, etc.

Find out more about Student research and Supervisor roles in the Hōkai for Supervisors and Hōkai for Student Research modules.

Important: Confirm your contacts

Make sure you click the Confirm contact button to confirm each project member.

This saves their role and sends them an email notification that they've been added to the application:

Change access rights or add other reviewers

Access Rights for each Researcher appear when the Contact is confirmed:

Owner - Edit rights automatically granted to the person who created the application
Edit - Able to edit the application; granted by default to a Principal Investigator, Masters student, or Honours student
View - View only access; granted by default to all other Roles.

You can change the Access Rights at any time by clicking on the Invite user to register or share application button in the top right of the screen:

Top right of application screen with Invite user button highlighted

Invite user window showing Modify Access options

You can also invite someone else to access the application, who is not listed as a researcher. This could be a peer reviewer, mentor, or learning advisor.

Add their email address and select the Access type. When you click Save and send, it will send them an email notification.

Invited access window showing user is found and Save and send button

If the person is not registered with a Hōkai account, they will need to register first by emailing Hōkai@vuw.ac.nz.

C. Submit the application

When the application is complete, the Principal Investigator can submit the application.

The Accept and Submit button will only appear for the Principal Investigator:

Application sign off page with Accept and Submit button highlighted

Please note: If you are not the person who created the application, the Accept and Submit button will only show for you if you have clicked through the sections of the application to prove that you have looked at it prior to submission.