91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø

Your research approval is documented by an Approval Letter that can be downloaded using these instructions for your records and to share with any bodies that request proof that your research has received ethics approval. Approval expires after one year, or as stated in the Approval Letter. Approval for research projects lasting longer than a year can be extended on a yearly basis using a renewal application submitted via ARISE. This should be done as long as work with human participants continues; if a project transitions to data interpretation and write-up, with no further data gathered from participants, renewal is no longer needed. Course-based research approvals are also valid for a year, but can be renewed if the course is offered again as long as the student research involved is not changed. The ARISE system sends automated reminder emails to notify researchers of impending approval expiries. To submit a renewal application, open the study to be renewed in ARISE and select the ‘New Renewal’ option visible at the left side of the screen. The renewal application form is brief and approval is normally quick, but researchers should still apply for renewal as soon as they receive the reminder to make sure that their ethics approval status does not lapse. If a research project’s approval has lapsed, no research involving human participants may take place until researchers have applied for and received a new approval.

Many changes to approved research do not require a new application to be submitted. Minor changes to research personnel and funding are reported using links in ARISE. For changes to the research itself, researchers can request an amendment to their existing approval. To submit an amendment application, open the study to be changed in ARISE and select the ‘New Amendment’ option visible at the left side of the screen. It is the responsibility of researchers to report and seek approval of significant changes to an ongoing project. These do not include progress of the work described in the initial application (e.g. recruitment of participants as planned; progress from focus groups to one-on-one interviews as planned) but do include changes that significantly alter that work (e.g. expanding participant recruitment from people over 18 to people over 15; adding one-on-one interviews to a project that initially only planned for focus groups). 

Having received approval for their research projects from a 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø REB, researchers remain accountable to that REB with respect to ethical issues regarding human participants in the research.  Hence, researchers must notify the REB that approved their ethics application (by emailing contact provided on the main Research Ethics Board information webpage) if any adverse events affecting human participants occur during the course of their research.  If such events occur, the researcher must explain how the situation was handled, and must outline the steps taken to ensure that such events do not occur again.  If the REB concludes that the risk of such adverse events occurring again are too great, it may recommend changes to the research design or protocols, or may rescind the approval previously given to the research project. Should new circumstances occur during a research project that bring about unforeseen ethical issues, these should also be brought to the attention of the REB.

Note that an ethics clearance is NOT a substitute for permits required by institutions, organizations or groups that will be involved in, or affected by, the research. It is also not a substitute for adherence to relevant safety regulations (e.g. biohazard regulations surrounding the use of human tissue samples) and securing any approvals required by these regulations. Researchers are responsible for securing these permits and approvals; student researchers are strongly urged to ask their supervisors for guidance on this well before their research begins.