Indigo Research offers online one-to-one research mentorship with ethics among its listed subjects.
Ethics
Deadline not announced
From $3900
14-18
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Research Ethics and AI Use for High School Projects
AI use in high school research must follow project rules, acknowledge permitted help, protect data and participants, and accurately report the student's own work.
Research
Discuss with parentsLast verified: 10 Oct 2026Reviewed by:SSSean Stevens
- AI assistance is acceptable only when your school, program, institution and competition rules permit the specific task.
- ISEF prohibits generative AI from writing your research plan, abstract or poster, or creating citations.
- Acknowledgment does not make prohibited AI use acceptable or demonstrate your independent contribution.
- Under ISEF rules, non-exempt human participant research needs ethics approval before recruitment or data collection.
- Confirm dataset permissions and approved privacy protections before sharing research material with an AI tool.
- Keep records of permitted assistance and report your methods, results and personal contribution honestly.
What Succeed checks
We review public sources, provider information and recognised education-sector guidance, then focus on what helps students make practical decisions.
How official sources are used
We use official sources where available, especially for deadlines, eligibility, costs, availability and application details.
What Last verified means
Last verified is the latest date Succeed checked the key public information used in this guide. Details can still change after that date.
Why details can change
Opportunity details can change between review cycles. Always check the official source before applying or making a final decision.
Succeed's guidance is editorially independent. Providers do not approve or control the advice in our guides. If a provider relationship affects a page, we state it clearly.
What research ethics means for high school AI use
Research ethics means conducting and reporting an investigation honestly while respecting people, data and intellectual property. The US Office of Research Integrity defines fabrication as inventing data or results, falsification as manipulating or omitting material so research is misrepresented, and plagiarism as using another person's ideas, processes, results or words without appropriate credit. Succeed's practical recommendation is to make your records clear enough that someone can distinguish your work from assistance you received.
AI can support some research tasks, but permission depends on the rules governing your project. ISEF's rules require independent student work, proper AI acknowledgment and reporting only the student's portion of a larger study. Its preliminary AI guidance describes conditional assistance, but affiliated fairs may adopt stricter policies, so that table alone does not authorize a task.
Policies have different scopes: Oxford's research policy applies to research within its stated institutional scope, while JCQ guidance addresses qualification assessments it covers. In the UK, coursework and non-examination assessment, often called NEA, refer to assessed work completed outside a conventional exam. Use these examples to identify questions for your supervisor; the applicable school rules, institutional review process and local law determine your project's requirements.
How to plan ethical AI use in a high school project
Ask your teacher or supervisor to identify applicable school, program, institution and competition policies before choosing AI tasks.
Common mistake: Do not assume another institution's permission applies.
Write your research plan yourself and record which tasks you, collaborators and mentors will perform.
Common mistake: Do not claim a mentor's work as yours.
Have the responsible school or institutional review process establish required approvals before participant recruitment, interaction or data collection.
Common mistake: Do not treat a mentor's letter as IRB approval.
Read dataset licenses and obtain required permission for unpublished data, methods, results and copyrighted material.
Common mistake: Do not equate access with unrestricted reuse.
Confirm permitted tools, account age restrictions, data storage, access controls and AI upload permissions with responsible school or institutional staff.
Common mistake: Do not upload participant records without authorization.
Keep a privacy-safe record of tool names, versions, dates, prompts, outputs and the specific assistance used.
Common mistake: Do not rely on a vague AI acknowledgment.
Read original sources, verify every reference, test permitted AI-generated code and perform your own interpretation.
Common mistake: Do not cite a reference you cannot verify.
Preserve original records, explain exclusions and limitations, disclose contributions, and obtain required reapproval before implementing changes.
Common mistake: Do not omit results to misrepresent the findings.
For ISEF and affiliated fairs, non-exempt human participant studies require IRB approval before recruitment or data collection, and studies involving participants under 18 require assent and written parental permission. This guide cannot replace ethics review, an approved consent process or the requirements of your institution and jurisdiction.
Which AI tasks does ISEF guidance permit?
| Dimensions | Language editing | Code assistance | Research writing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Task | Grammar and syntax corrections | Generating initial project code | Generating initial plans, abstracts, papers or posters |
| Preliminary guidance | Permitted within narrow limits | Permitted with citation and prompt logs | Prohibited |
| Student responsibility | Write original text and retain main points | Understand, test and identify generated portions | Write independently and interpret findings yourself |
| Acknowledgment | Follow governing AI acknowledgment requirements | Explicitly cite AI-generated code portions | Citation cannot authorize prohibited writing |
| Affiliated fair rules | Stricter restrictions may apply | Stricter restrictions may apply | Independent work remains required |
Research and AI programs to compare
Succeed recommends comparing these subject and format matches and asking providers to confirm their AI and ethics review arrangements.
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Immerse Education offers an online research program in artificial intelligence and computer science.
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Veritas AI Scholars
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Veritas AI offers an online program listing artificial intelligence, computer science and ethics.
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May to September 2026, 6 sessions
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Save the recommended research and AI programs to compare their subject fit and prepare questions about permitted assistance and ethics review.
Compare research and AI programsCheck your project's AI use and research ethics
Confirm the AI rules governing every intended submission.
Obtain required ethics approval before recruitment or data collection.
Complete required consent, assent and parental permission processes.
Confirm dataset licenses and permissions for unpublished material.
Approve privacy protections before uploading research material.
Retain permitted AI prompts, outputs and contribution records securely.
Read original sources and verify every citation.
Report your own contribution, exclusions and limitations accurately.
How research preparation changes with student age
| Age / year group | Best focus | Good opportunity types | What to prepare |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13-15 | Source reading, attribution, supervised planning | Teacher-supported projects, introductory research programs | School rules, tool restrictions, research notebook |
| 16-17 | Methods, permissions, documented independent contribution | Mentored research, supervised computational projects | Research plan, required approvals, assistance log |
| 18+ | Accountability, applicable consent rules, reproducibility | Eligible research programs, supervised institutional projects | Governing policies, data permissions, contribution statement |
Common misunderstandings about AI and research ethics
Reality
ISEF prohibits specified AI writing tasks even when acknowledged. JCQ also requires students to independently demonstrate assessed knowledge and skills.
What to do
Establish permission for the task before using AI.
Reality
Under ISEF rules, surveys are human participant studies and anonymity alone does not establish an exemption. Online recruitment and surveys also fall within its participant protections.
What to do
Resolve review requirements before recruiting respondents.
Reality
UK Data Service safeguarded data remain subject to license terms despite anonymization. Additional permission, user or location restrictions can apply.
What to do
Read the conditions for the specific dataset.
Reality
ORI defines falsification to include omissions that cause research to be inaccurately represented. Results that challenge your hypothesis still need honest treatment.
What to do
Explain exclusions and limitations without distorting the findings.
Match research support to your project
Narrow research options by the methods, supervision and policy clarity your project requires.
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Selection reviewed by
Sean Stevens
Co-founder, Succeed | Founder, Immerse Education (2012–2026)
Sean works at the intersection of academic enrichment, program quality and university preparation, with expertise in evaluating pre-university experiences for ambitious secondary school students.
High school research ethics and AI FAQs
Permission depends on your project's governing rules. Society for Science's preliminary guidance prohibits AI from initially writing the paper or producing conclusions, while allowing limited refinement of student-written text under stated conditions. Its main ISEF rules require independent work and AI acknowledgment, and affiliated fairs may be stricter.
Society for Science's preliminary guidance permits initial AI-generated code with explicit attribution of the generated portions and a prompt log. Generated graphics must be clearly marked as AI-generated and explicitly cited with how they were created. Confirm the governing rules before using either.
Follow the declaration requirements governing your project and identify the tool, dates, tasks and affected material. Oxford's policy suggests name, version, date and research impact for substantive use. For covered assessments, JCQ requires retained questions and outputs in a non-editable format, plus an explanation submitted with the work.
ISEF prohibits generative AI from creating citations, and the preliminary table prohibits starter bibliographies and reproducing summaries without reading the original work. That table allows bibliography formatting only when every citation is verified. Read the original sources and cite the material you actually used.
Under ISEF rules, surveys are human participant studies requiring IRB approval before recruitment or data collection unless a defined exemption applies. Studies involving participants under 18 require their assent and written parental permission, with the survey included in that permission process. Other settings have their own review requirements.
Consent is informed agreement by someone legally able to authorize their participation; assent is a child's affirmative agreement. OHRP explains that silence is not assent and that parental permission and assent have distinct roles under applicable HHS regulations. The responsible IRB determines requirements and permitted waivers within its regulatory framework.
Uploading personal data requires an authorized process with appropriate privacy protections. Oxford treats such uploads as data processing requiring ethics approval when part of research; DfE school guidance calls for consultation with responsible data protection or IT staff. Permission to collect data does not automatically authorize an AI upload.
ISEF requires the research plan to distinguish student and mentor work and the submission to represent only the student's contribution. ORI distinguishes honest error from misconduct, while defining fabricated results and misleading changes or omissions as misconduct. Succeed recommends preserving original records, correcting errors transparently and explaining limitations.
Explore more
Useful guides
Sources
- UK Data Service: Safeguarded access
- Department for Education: Generative AI and data protection in schools
- JCQ: AI Use in Assessments—Your role in protecting the integrity of qualifications
- University of Oxford: Policy for using generative AI in research
- Office of Research Integrity: Definition of Research Misconduct
- HHS OHRP: Research with Children FAQs
- ISEF Human Participants Rules
- Society for Science: Use of generative AI to support a research project
- ISEF Rules for All Projects
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