A. Create a new application

1. Click the + Apply now button.

Screenshot of Apply now button

2. Enter an application title, which creates a hyperlink reference. Use any reference text that makes sense to you:

"Name application" window with a text box to enter the "Application title"

If you need to edit this reference before you submit the application, see Manage your Applications.

You will add the actual Title of your Research Project on the application form (Q3).

3. Fill in the form.

It is easier to complete the form more or less in the order of the questions, because the earlier questions activate later questions on the form. However, you can skip any section you haven't completed yet.

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

4. 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. Add yourself and your supervisor

From sections with Personnel highlighted

In the Personnel section of the form, you add the people involved in the application and their role, including yourself.

Only one Principal Investigator can submit the ethics application. Add yourself as the Principal Investigator for your doctoral research.

Add your Supervisor(s) under the Supervisor (for PhD Principal Investigator) role. Two or more Supervisors can be added with this role, and you don't need to specify which is primary or secondary.

Instructions on the form explain how to do this, also described in Steps 1 and 2 below.

Project Team

Add yourself
- Role of Researcher: Select 'Principal Investigator'
- Search contact: Search for your name and/or email address and select
- Click on Confirm contact.
Add your supervisor(s)
- Role of Researcher: Select ‘Supervisor (for PhD Principal Investigator)’
- Search contact and select
- Click on Confirm contact.

Important: Make sure you click Confirm contact for each person.

When this button changes to "Contact confirmed", important actions happen:

- Your Supervisor's Access Rights change to View, so they can see the application in Hōkai.
- The system sends your Supervisor(s) an email notification that they have been added to the application.

This button will turn green and change to Contact confirmed when you click it, as shown in this gif:

GIF showing typiing in a contact's email, then clicking "Confirm contact", which changes it to "Contact confirmed"

C. Change access rights or add more reviewers

Access Rights appear when each Contact is confirmed. For a PhD application, you will see:

Owner - rights to change anything, automatically grated to you as the person who created the application
View - view only, automatically granted to a Supervisor (for PhD Principal Investigator).

1. You can change the Access Rights any time. Click 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

2. You will see your Supervisor listed as "Shared with view access". You can change this to "Share with edit access" if you want them to be able to make changes in the application.

3. You can also invite others to access the application, such as 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.
- If the person is not registered with a Hōkai account, they will need to register by completing a Hōkai Access Request Form.

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

D. Download a draft application

The Preview button always appears in the top right corner of the application.

$LaTeX: \rightarrow$ Click the Preview button to download a PDF of your draft application:

Application screen with Preview button highlighted

Your Supervisor may want to make comments and suggestions in that draft document.

E. Prepare and upload supporting documents

Documents to include

You will need to attach key project documents to the application. This could include:

Information sheets for participants
Consent forms for participants
Any recruitment material, such as posters, online advertisements or emails
A copy of your questions or protocol: questionnaire/survey, focus group guidelines, observation protocol, etc.
A transcriber confidentiality agreement (if necessary)
Etc.

$LaTeX: \rightarrow$ When you complete Q15 in the Data Collection section of the application, this creates a set of recommended supporting documents in the Checklist section. Review the Checklist to see what documents you should include.

Checklist section with text "You have indicated that your research will include the following" and list of suggested docs

$LaTeX: \rightarrow$ Your Supervisor is the best person to confirm you've included the right documents before you submit the application.

Document templates

Our Ethics webpage has template documents you can download and revise, such as sample Information Sheets and Consent Forms.

File types and size

You can upload any document or image file type, e.g. Word document, PDF, Plain text, JPG, etc.
Each attachment is limited to 10mb in size, and the cumulative size for all attachments must not exceed 95mb.
- If your document is too big, try resizing or compressing any images inside the document. In Word, click on the image and go the 'Picture Format' tab, then select 'Compress Pictures'.

F. Submit the application

As the Principal Investigator / PhD student, you are responsible for making sure that your Supervisor reviews the application and confirms it is ready to submit.

The Accept and Submit button only appears for the Principal Investigator:

Application sign off page with Accept and Submit button highlighted

Please note: If you are the PI but 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.

When the application is submitted, it will show on your Applications page with Submitted status. You will also receive an email notification.