Ethics application process

Who should submit an ethics application
How to submit an ethics application
Where to get information
Deadline for submissions
Research Ethics Boards and Appeal Board membership
REB Chairs first report (September 1999 - April 2001)

What's new :
      In-class experimentation guidelines
      Compliance and monitoring initiatives

Introduction

Any research project involving human subjects, whether funded or not, must receive the approval of one of the Research Ethics Boards (REB) prior to the start of the project.

It is the responsibility of the professor as researcher, as thesis supervisor and as lecturer to ascertain whether or not a project requires an ethical review. This may be done by consulting the Protocol officer for ethics in research.

Failure to seek ethical review and to comply with recommendations of the relevant Research Ethics Board may be deemed as a contravention of the article entitled "Professional Ethics" of the Collective Agreement between the University of Ottawa and the APUO.

Ethics Office

30 Stewart Street, room 301
University of Ottawa
Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5

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Who should submit an ethics application :

1. Members of the teaching staff, for their own research;
2. Ph.D. and Master's students (and their supervisor) or students (and their supervisor) preparing honors or fourth year research projects;
3. Professors who, in the context of their courses, require students to conduct independent research projects requiring the participation of human subjects;
4. For research activities undertaken as part of an undergraduate course and designed to provide training in research, the REB may conduct an evaluation based on its analysis of the course outline. A consent form model must be attached to the course outline. Responsibility for carrying out a detailed ethical assessment of specific projects lies with those responsible for such courses;
5. Professors or students making secondary use of data originally collected for other purposes.
6. Projects from the Faculty of Medicine are to be submitted to the Ottawa Hospital REB: http://www.ohri.ca/ohreb.

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How to submit an ethics application :

Clear and complete information must be provided. The REB requires the following documents:

1. Thirteen (13) copies of the REB Application Form duly completed, signed and dated. For requests submitted by students, the supervising professor must also sign the Application Form;
2. Four (4) copies of the research proposal which should not exceed 5 pages;
3. For Ph.D. and Master's students, four (4) copies of the confirmation that their proposal has been approved by their thesis committee;
4. Other relevant documents in four (4) copies, including a recruitment text, a consent form model, research instruments, approvals from other ethics committees, and permissions from institutions to recruit participants.

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Where to get information :

1. All documents are available via the Research Ethics Boards Internet site. For other information concerning ethics review of research projects, please contact :
   

   Catherine Lesage
   Protocol Officer for Ethics in Research
   Office of Vice-Rector (Research)
   30 Stewart Street, room 301
   Phone: (613) 562-5387
   Fax: (613) 562-5318
   E-mail: clesage@uottawa.ca

2. The Canadian guidelines, the Tri-Council Policy Statement, are not published. The updated version may be consulted at : http://www.nserc.ca/programs/ethics/english/policy.htm
3. The National Council on Ethics in Human Research web site can be found at : http://www.ncehr-cnerh.org .

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Deadline for submissions :

1. The application for ethical approval is to be received by the Protocol officer before the first working day of the month BEFORE 5:00 p.m. for ethical assessment by the REB during that month;
2. The Research ethics boards meet every month except during the month of July.

Please contact us if you have any questions or comments about this web site or the ethics evaluation process.
clesage@uottawa.ca

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