University of Limpopo elects new Turfloop Research Ethics Committee

In an endeavour to augment its strategic intent of improving institutional research standing and status, the University of Limpopo (UL) recently appointed a new executive committee to steer the Turfloop Research Ethics Committee (TREC) for the next three years.
The committee is charged with the responsibility of promoting good ethical behaviour among researchers and ensuring that researchers comply with standards of ethical practice when researching on human participants.
Its composition results from a process that involved deans of faculty who nominated and forwarded a list of staff members deemed suitable to serve in the committee.
The committee comprises a broad spectrum of experts from various fields to ensure that proposals across all fields receive the necessary and relevant review and feedback.

Committee members include Peter Masoko, Researcher for Faculty of Agriculture and Sciences, Tebogo Mothiba, Researcher for Faculty of Health Sciences and Jesika Singh, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Partnerships.
The newly elected TREC Chairperson, Peter Masoko was qouted to have said that one of the committee’s initial tasks will be to reintroduce the Unit to the university’s researching staff.
He reportedly said the chief role of the committee is to review applications for research that involve human participants, such as collection of data through questionnaires or interviews. “One of the plans is to visit sites where approved research projects are conducted. This will ensure that all research activities in the university that involve human subjects or respondents, are bound by specific ethical principles”.
Mothiba, a multi award winning researcher and Deputy Chairperson of the committee expressed her excitement about her new role in the team “The committee has a duty to protect human subjects against exploitation by researchers and further advised researchers to adhere to ethical standards while ensuring that their proposals meet scientific merit prior to TREC’s approval”.
Singh emphasised that TREC is essential for upholding standards required to conduct scientific research with humans, serving to protect humans from any potential harm that may result from the research. “The unit will ensures that all academic staff, researchers and students uphold sound ethical practices when conducting research so that knowledge can be advanced without it adversely affecting humans.”

Story: Herbert Rachuene
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