Research

Human research ethics management at UWA

A focus on research of an international quality and the fostering of an outstanding research culture have positioned UWA as one of the best universities in Australia and in the top 150 in the world.

Human Ethics Resources


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Human Research Ethics Procedures

The Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) is a key ethics review body within the University of Western Australia’s ethics review and approval system.

The HREC is registered with the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and is a formally constituted committee of the University with a membership comprising highly experienced research staff and lay members

Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC)

The University of Western Australia is required to ensure that all research involving human participants has been reviewed by an appropriate ethics review body and determined to be ethically satisfactory before research commences. The Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) is a key ethics review body that determines the ethical suitability of higher risk research proposals.

The Human Research Ethics Committee is a Vice Chancellor's Advisory Committee that is responsible to the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research).

Role

The HREC is established to assist the University of Western Australia in addressing its responsibilities to protect all parties involved in human research including research participants, researchers, and the Institution in accordance with the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research.

The National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research is jointly promulgated by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the Australia Research Council (ARC), and Universities Australia (UA) and The University of Western Australia is bound by its guidelines and requirements.

The principal functions of the HREC are to:

  • Review and approve all Level 3 (‘higher risk’) human research ethics projects.
  • Report to the NHMRC on compliance of ‘higher risk’ research projects with the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (the National Statement).
  • Review and resolve relevant complaints about human research projects.
  • Review and resolve issues relating to adverse events encountered in human research projects.

HREC Membership

The members of the HREC are experienced, senior researchers and community members with a broad expertise in research design and research ethics.

The minimum membership of the committee must satisfy the requirements of the “National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research”.

(Refer to paragraphs 5.1.29 and 5.1.30 of the National Statement.

HREC Constitution

The HREC is a formally constituted committee of the University and is registered with the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia.

The committee’s Constitution is available here.

In addition to being bound by its own Constitution, the HREC and its members also operate in accordance with the:

Meeting and submission deadlines


The ethics review of ‘higher risk’ and/or more complex human research ethics proposals takes time. Therefore, applications need to be received 2 weeks prior to a scheduled HREC to be included in the agenda.  After quality check, applications are submitted to the next available meeting for review.

Remember, that you should always submit your human research ethics application documents as soon as they are ready, because not all ethics applications need to be reviewed by the HREC, quality reviews can take time and there is a maximum number of applications that can be placed on an HREC agenda.

For application that will need to be reviewed by the HREC, the following is the meeting schedule for 2021.

The Human Ethics office recommends to submit applications using the online system.  Using your pheme login.

Research Online Application Portal (ROAP)

 

Red Committee Meeting Date

Yellow Committee Meeting Date

No Meeting January

Wed, 19 January 2022

Tue, 1 February 2022

Wed, 16 February 2022

Tue, 1 March 2022

Wed, 16 March 2022

Tue, 5 April 2022

Wed, 20 April 2022

Tue, 3 May 2022 

Wed, 18 May 2022

Tue, 7 June 2022

Wed, 15 June 2022

Tue, 5 July 2022

Wed, 20 July 2022

Tue, 2 August 2022

Wed, 17 August 2022

Tue, 6 September 2022

Wed, 14 September 2022

Tue, 4 October 2022

Wed, 19 October 2022

Tue, 6 December 2022

Wed, 16 November 2022

 No Meeting December