Research Ethics

All Mount Saint Vincent University Faculty, Students, Administration and Staff who are conducting research with human subjects must submit an ethics protocol (application) to the University Research Ethics Board (UREB) for approval prior to the commencement of research. Ethics protocols must be submitted in accordance with the guidelines, policies and procedures of this committee.

This website will assist you in:
• Planning of your ethics application
• Procedures of ethics application review
• Proper submission of the ethics review application
• Information that can aid in the preparation of the ethics review application

Please note that on occasion researchers may find that ethical issues occur while conducting studies/project that have not received ethical approval from the UREB. If this occurs, contact the UREB Office as soon as possible to determine if a protocol should be submitted. Research should not continue until this matter is resolved. The UREB Office will endeavour to process these issues as quickly as possible.

If at any time you have any questions or concerns, contact Brenda Gagné, Research Ethics Coordinator.

NEWS....ELECTRONIC SUMBISSIONS....

the University Research Ethics Board has decided to run a trial period of accepting Research Ethics Applications via electronic submission. We hope that this will not only allow our committee to "green" our application process and eliminate the use of paper, but may also expedite turn-around time with the files. Effective immediately, the submission process outlined below will be in place. The committee will review the effectiveness of this process in the fall and will at that point make a decision on making this the permanent submission process.

Application Process for Research Ethics Clearance
1. Applications must be saved in Word (.doc) format only.
2. Appendices (e.g. research tools, letters, consent, third party approval, etc) are to be saved in Word (.doc) format wherever possible. When required, documents may be saved in .PDF format.
3. Applications and appendices are to be sent electronically by the researcher, or in the case of student research, submitted by the supervisor to the Research Ethics Coordinator (msvu.ca) as attachments.
4. One (1) signed hard copy of the application and appendices must be sent to the Research Ethics Coordinator (EV 231). Please remember to include DREB approval letters, Thesis committee approvals, REB approvals from other institutions, etc. with the hard copy.
5. Electronic copies will be sent to the reviewers, who in turn will respond via email to the Research Ethics Coordinator with their comments as is currently the practice. These comments will be sent to the researcher, or in the case of student researchers, to the supervisor for review, discussion and/or action.
6. Revisions and clarifications should be made using track changes, using bold or in some way highlighting the changes in order to assist the reviewers in quickly locating requested revisions and clarifications. These are to be submitted as per point 3 outlined above.
7. When the reviewers have given research ethics clearance to proceed with the research, you will receive a confirmation email from the Research Ethics Coordinator, followed by a Research Ethics Clearance Certificate in hard copy, signed by the UREB Chair. Research may not begin until you have received notification of clearance.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
UREB forms are located on the website: http://www.msvu.ca/en/home/research/researchethics/forms.aspx