Honours programs in South African universities must include a research project module. There are external pressures from professional bodies and government that influences the nature of the project module. This paper presents a reflection on the process of managing the project module at a South African university taking into account internal and external demands. The focus for this paper is on the ethical content of the projects. Examples of projects are presented after which the ethical awareness of the students is discussed. Not all projects have ethical, legal or social issues, however ethical aspects need to be reflected upon and awareness of these issues is essential during the planning of the project. The awareness that students have on ethical, social and legal issues is investigated in this paper.