Research Ethics & Safety: Human Participants

Research Ethics Board

Research involving human participants, either directly or indirectly, and even if non-invasive to the person, must be submitted for prior approval by the UNBC Research Ethics Board (REB). THE UNBC REB is responsible for ensuring all research or teaching conducted under the auspices of UNBC involving the use of human participants, human tissue, human stem cells or data collected on human participants conforms to the UNBC Policy and Terms of Reference on Ethics Review of Research Involving Human Participants as well as the Tri-Council Policy Statement on the Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS 2 (2022)) which guides all human participant research in Canada. All research or teaching conducted under the auspices of UNBC involving the use of human participants, human tissue, human stem cells or data collected on human participants must have the prior approval of the UNBC REB. This includes all research involving interviews, focus groups, aptitude testing, Internet surveys, telephone polls or psychological experiments. 

Prior to commencement of research and teaching activities involving the use of human participants, or human biological materials for all minimal risk, above minimal risk, and multi-jurisdictional applications, the REB must review and approve the activities. Through the ethics application and review process the REB ensures there is a university-wide understanding of, and compliance with, all applicable external and internal requirements. 

REB Forms

All new single jurisdictional protocols requiring ethics review must be submitted through the ROMEO Research Portal. For existing protocols that were submitted prior to the use of the Romeo Research Portal for ethics review, please note all studies continuing into 2025 are to be active in the ROMEO Research Portal. Please complete a New Application Form in ROMEO, noting the old application number (E#) that has need of renewal. 

If you are a student (or other non-faculty researcher), your academic supervisor will need to be the one to submit your Human Ethics application on your behalf from their own ROMEO account. Please ensure your supervisor is "Principal Investigator" and that you are the "Principal Applicant" in the ROMEO application prior to submission. ROMEO applications received from student accounts will be returned by the Office of Research and Innovation for re-submission.

Minimal risk applications

Applications for research projects that meet the Tri-Council definition of minimal risk will be eligible for delegated review by the REB. Minimal risk applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, and will normally be reviewed by two REB Members and the Chair of the REB. Please allow three weeks from the submission deadline for a response from the REB. Note that during the months of July and August we cannot guarantee a specific turnaround time for a response as the minimal risk applications are reviewed upon the availability of REB members. 

Above minimal risk applications

Applications above minimal risk must be submitted by the "Application Due Date" referred to in the 2025 REB Meeting Schedule and Application Due Dates. Please allow two weeks from the Meeting Date for a response from the REB. Note that above minimal risk applications will not be reviewed during the months of July or August. 

Multi-jurisdictional applications

If your application is multi-jurisdictional, having two or more Research Ethics BC partners (REBC partners), and is to be processed as a harmonized research ethics review for the involved partner institutions, please complete an application through the Provincial Research Ethics Platform (PREP) which entered hard launch on January 1, 2019. All new multi-jurisdictional applications involving REBC partners will only be processed through PREP. Joint research projects involving the Northern Health Authority and UNBC are to be completed through PREP. There are no procedural changes for non-REBC partners involved in a multi-jurisdictional protocol. Non-REBC partner institutions will still require their own institutional ethics application form to be submitted to their REB for investigators under their auspice.

More information and resources on multi-jurisdictional applications can be found online at Research Ethics BC.

Classroom Projects

Classroom projects involving research by students must be submitted by the instructor for REB approval prior to the semester of the course in order to ensure review and revisions are completed for inclusion of the project in the course syllabus. Faculty members who may be in doubt as to whether REB approval is necessary, must contact the Research Ethics Officer or Chair of the REB.

External Researchers

External researchers must request a proportionate review of their study from the UNBC REB. Please submit a copy of your home institution's REB approval, together with a copy of the final approved application and supporting documents, complete with any revisions, by email to reb@unbc.ca. External research studies are assessed for local considerations, and a response will be sent back to the researcher, as outlined in TCPS2, Article 8.3. Once UNBC REB Approval has been obtained, the external researcher can proceed to engage with UNBC faculty, staff and students.

More on research and teaching involving human participants

Contact for Ethics Support

Office of Research and Innovation/Human Ethics Support: reb@unbc.ca
General/ROMEO assistance: research@unbc.ca 

Isobel Hartley, Research Ethics Officer
Phone: 250-960-6735

Crystal Braun, REB Administrative Assistant
Phone: 250-960-5852

Hours of operation: Monday to Friday - 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

 

The UNBC Ethics Review of Research Involving Human Participants - Policy and Terms of Reference were developed with the support of the policies and terms of reference of Simon Fraser University, University of Victoria and University of British Columbia, and we thank them for their sharing of the helpful language we have used.