Considering governing body requirements and ethics
For universities, research activities must adopt with integrity practices consistent with The National Code for Responsible Conduct of Research (NHMRC 2018). The QUT ARG needed to evaluate the project and partnership to determine whether this project complied with guidelines and policy, and consider whether ethics approval would be required. It was important to determine whether there were any other governing bodies to consider when working directly with a school. The QUT ARG had no previous experience undertaking a collaboration with the secondary education sector. During the COVID-19 situation, the Queensland state government Department of Education issued a directive that all research activities in state schools and other educational sites were to be postponed until further notice (Queensland Government 2020). Instead of research, the project aim was to develop learning activities for them to conduct and raise awareness of research processes. Careful consideration throughout the development and implementation phases of the project was taken to comply with government regulations including frequently changing public health directives. This restricted the scope of this initial project, however, it may be possible in future when the Department of Education directive changes, and if ethics approval is sought, to gather survey feedback from the students themselves on their perception of the learning opportunities and material provided.