Further information
Guidance is offered to University staff and student researchers through the:
- Human Research Ethics Office (HREO)
- Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC)
- Regional Ethics Review Committees (RERC)
UWA is committed to the highest standards of ethical practice in research involving or affecting people.
The ethical conduct of research involving humans is governed by a number of guidelines and by legislation. In particular, the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research embodies the key values, principles and guidelines for the design and conduct of human research.
Human research defined
Human research is conducted with or about people, or their data, or tissue. Therefore, human participation in research should be understood broadly to include the involvement of human beings through:
- taking part in surveys, interviews, or focus groups
- undergoing psychological, physiological, or medical testing or treatment
- being observed by researchers
- researchers having access to their personal documents or other materials
- the collection and use of their body organs, tissues, or fluids (skin, blood, urine, saliva, hair, bones, tumours and biopsy specimens) or their exhaled breath
- Access to their information (in individually identifiable, re-identifiable or non-identifiable form) as part of an existing published, or unpublished, source or database.
When ethical review is required
Institutions, including UWA, are responsible for establishing procedures for the ethical review of human research.
A human research proposal must be assessed as ethically acceptable, and compliant with the requirements of the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research, before research can begin.
Ethics approval is often also a prerequisite for the release of funding grants.
Human research ethics at UWA
UWA has a three-tier ethics review system
Based on the level of risk involved in human research, the human research ethics review system at UWA includes an exempt status, and a 3-tier ethics review hierarchy:
- Exempt - no risk:
- activities that do not require formal ethics review
- Level 1 - negligible risk:
- ethics review by the Human Research Ethics Office (HREO)
- Level 2 - low risk:
- ethics review by a Regional Ethics Review Committee (RERC)
- Level 3 - higher risk:
- ethics review by the Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC)
All applications for ethics approval must be forwarded to the Head of School (or equivalent) for signature and approval to submit to the HREO. The HREO then undertakes a risk assessment of the proposed research project and subsequently directs the ethics application to the most appropriate ethics review pathway.
Procedures
University information
CRICOS Code: 00126G
