Students should recognise standards and procedures in nutrition study design to ensure the quality of data and other outputs, including (i) products and services; (ii) ethical and legal regulations that govern practice, especially when working with human material and data and (iii) standards of professionalism. During this course, students will develop knowledge and understanding of good clinical and scientific practice and ethical governance issues related to nutrition research and clinical practice and how they can be implemented and managed effectively.

The course is made up of lectures, tutorials and practical classes throughout semester 2.

None

None

Written report (75%) 2000 +/- 10% words - Students will write an ethics application (ILOs 1-5)

MCQ (20%) (ILOs 1-4)

Reflective statement (5%) - 300-500 words (ILO 6)

The course aims to provide students with a critical understanding of research methodology, governance and ethics, legislation relating to the use of human and animal tissues and data protection issues as applied to nutrition It will provide students with knowledge and understanding of procedures and required standards for generating, reporting and publishing output within nutrition.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Discuss and critically appraise scientific methodology for research in published literature;

2. Using an evidence-based approach identify an appropriate scientific question, develop a hypothesis and a scientific plan to address this hypothesis;

3. Critically reflect on personal and professional practice in relation to the ethical issues of different research approaches and prepare an application for ethical approval;

4. Critically evaluate procedures and requirements for data management and quality control relating to the validity, precision, accuracy, production, reporting and publication of a range of outcomes.

5. Critically discuss the issues related to research integrity with nutritionally relevant examples;

6. Reflect on a set of standards for professional behaviour using the AfN standards as an example.

For students on MSc Human Nutrition with specialisation:

As per the Association for Nutrition accreditation requirements students must submit all assessment components and achieve a minimum grade of D3 in each component.

For students on MSc Human Nutrition with Knowledge Transfer:

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.