Head-to-head: can a one-size-fits-all research ethics review process work across all disciplines?

Research ethics review is a practical task. The aim is to provide an opinion as to whether a proposed research activity meets principles and standards, broadly relating to accepted ethical norms, to the satisfaction of designated reviewers sitting as members of a research ethics committee (REC). Exactly what these ethical norms are is not the concern here. Instead, our aim is to debate whether or not a REC process can be proposed that will get to this ethical opinion, in a robust and timely manner, in a way that is relevant to all researchers no matter their academic discipline or area of research.