About RECON

One shared question set. Two ethics review pathways.

RECON helps organisations and researchers understand their ethics requirements, prepare applications and supporting documents, and manage their research together.

Complete RECON’s generalised ethics questions, use your answers to populate your study documents, and prepare an application for IREC or Unlock Psychology. University REC’s will become available on RECON following the pilot.

RECON is a research ethics preparation and project support platform. Your chosen research ethics committee reviews your application and makes the ethics decision.

The problem

Research ethics processes can vary between organisations. Different questions, terminology and submission requirements mean researchers often spend time repeating information and adapting documents.

The same details about recruitment, consent, participant safety and data management may need to appear in an ethics application, protocol, participant information sheet and consent form. Keeping these documents consistent becomes harder when several people are involved.

Our approach

RECON brings this preparation into one place.

Every user starts with the same generalised ethics question set, organised around the study rather than a particular committee’s form. Relevant follow-up questions, hints and examples help you explain your research and its ethical considerations.

Your answers become a shared source of information for your application and supporting documents. When you choose an export pathway, RECON reuses those answers and identifies any additional details needed.

Your research journey with RECON

1. 1

   Step 1. Check your study

   Answer a few questions to explore the ethics review your study may need. This helps you understand relevant considerations before preparing an application.

   RECON does not provide an NHS ethics review route.

2. 2

   Step 2. Start a project

   Subscribe to access RECON’s project features and create a workspace for your study. Save your progress and keep your research information and documents together.

3. 3

   Step 3. Complete RECON’s questions

   Everyone uses RECON’s generalised ethics question set. The questions cover your study’s purpose, methods, participants, consent, risks, data management and other relevant ethical considerations.

   Follow-up questions depend on your study, so you can focus on the details that apply. Hints and examples sit alongside the questions to help you develop your responses.

   You can begin preparing your study before deciding which of the available committees you will apply to.

4. 4

   Step 4. Choose your review pathway

   During the pilot, RECON supports preparation and export for IREC and Unlock Psychology. University REC’s will become available on RECON following the pilot.

   Your core answers stay with your project. Choosing a pathway determines how those answers are organised for export and which additional details are needed.

5. 5

   Step 5. Review, export and submit

   Review your application and supporting documents, complete any outstanding details, and export your submission pack as Word documents.

   Submit the application to your chosen committee through its usual process. If the committee requests changes, return to RECON to refine your answers and documents.

Two pathways from the same core answers

Your answers populate your study documents

Explain your study once. Reuse the information where it is needed.

RECON intelligently uses your answers to populate drafts of your:

• Protocol: describing the study’s purpose, design, methods and procedures.
• Participant information sheet: explaining the study and what taking part means.
• Consent form: recording the relevant choices and permissions for participation.

For example, the recruitment, consent, withdrawal and data-management arrangements you describe can be reused across your documents. This reduces repeated writing and helps keep the information consistent.

You review and edit each draft to ensure it accurately describes your study and is appropriate for its audience.

Work together in RECON

An in-house editor with tracked changes and live collaboration.

Invite your collaborators to work on your application and documents directly in RECON.

Use the in-house editor to work together live, review tracked changes and refine the wording. You remain in control of the final version.

Your project workspace brings your answers, documents and team contributions together, so everyone can work from the same version. It reduces reliance on externally-managed sharing systems, where arranging access for external collaborators can involve lengthy IT approval processes.

Keep your research organised

Your application and supporting documents are saved within the storage included in your subscription. Return to your project as it develops, respond to collaborators and prepare updated exports.

Exporting your documents does not remove your saved project. Your research information remains available in RECON for further work and reuse across the available pathways.

Built around shared ethical requirements

RECON’s generalised questions have been developed by comparing ethics questions and guidance from various publicly available sources and working with RECON’s official partners, bringing recurring requirements together while reducing duplication.

The shared questions provide the foundation. Pathway-specific prompts and export mappings help adapt that information for the selected committee.

One place to prepare your research, develop your documents and work with your team.