Procedures and guidance

It is your responsibility to ensure that all your activities using AI are carried out ethically and within the University's regulations. Please also refer to the staff guidance on the Secretariat webpages.

Procedures governing the use of AI in research

University ethics approval

All researchers must carry out an ethical review through the established faculty research ethics committee (FREC) procedure for research that has an ethical aspect. Currently, the use or development of AI tools does not, in itself, require you to carry out an ethical review. However, there may be other aspects of your research which do need ethical review.

The governance of research that uses or develops AI tools is currently under review. In future some types of AI research may require a full ethical review. Any policy changes will be communicated to all researchers.

Research funder regulations

Research funders are developing policies to make sure that research they fund that involves AI is carried out ethically and responsibly. These must be followed as well as the University's regulations.

Some research funders ask for information when you apply for a grant and there are regulations to follow when a grant is awarded.

If there is any conflict between funder and University regulations, please email: AI@leeds.ac.uk for guidance.

External organisations' regulations

All presentation of work (eg conferences, publications, presentations) that has used AI should comply with research funder, conference organiser or publisher AI guidelines and regulations.

If there is any conflict between external and University regulations, please email: AI@leeds.ac.uk for guidance.

Supervisor guidance

As a research supervisor, your responsibility is to ensure that your students are fully informed of University policies and regulations about ethical and responsible use of AI in their teaching and research work. Students have full responsibility for how they use AI in their learning and research work.

See the Supervisor guidance for research degrees and the Guidance for research postgraduates.