Legal & ethics

Participant rights

These rights apply to every participant in every study, and take precedence over data collection whenever the two conflict.

To be informed before you agree

You receive the protocol version you are consenting to, in plain language: what happens, how long it takes, what is recorded, who can see it, and what will be published.

To decline without giving a reason

Declining participation carries no consequence, no explanation requirement, and no effect on any future application.

To pause or stop a session at any moment

Any participant can pause or end a session immediately. Recording stops, and no completed portion is treated as a failed attempt.

To withdraw

You may withdraw at any point. Identifying material is deleted; already-analysed coded records may be retained where a published analysis depends on them, and the retention state is recorded and disclosed.

To know who accessed your information

Every read of identifying material is logged with user, acting role, fields accessed and timestamp. Participants and family representatives can request that exposure record.

To a copy of your own data

You may request an export of the material you provided, including your transcripts and signed consent documents.

To correction by amendment

Submitted session data is never edited. Corrections are recorded as separate, timestamped amendments attached to the original record, preserving the integrity chain.

To hold any belief, or none

No participant is required to believe in survival after death. The project investigates measurable claims, not personal beliefs, and screening never assesses belief.

Not to be given an interpretation as reassurance

No result is presented to a participant as evidence about a specific person, and no session material is offered as consolation, guidance or advice.

To raise a concern independently

Concerns can be raised with the ethics advisory track rather than with the study team, and a concern never affects your standing in the programme.

Exercising a right

Requests can be made from your portal or by contacting the project. Identity-related requests are verified before disclosure, and each request is itself logged.