Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC)

All research activities involving human participants will require a human research ethics review and approval prior to their commencement.

• Researchers design the research project and complete all human research ethics application documents.
• Chief Investigator / Research Supervisor signs the application document and takes responsibility for all aspects of the project.
• ROAP will request endorsement from your Head of School (or equivalent) who will provide School support for submission of the ethics application.
• Receipt of the ethics application is acknowledged; the Ethics and Compliance Office will conduct a preliminary quality check to ensure the application is ready for review.
• the Ethics and Compliance Office assesses the risk of the application, coordinates the review and approval of the ethics application, which follows one of three ethics review and approval pathways.

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 approval.
• Level 1 – negligible risk - Ethics review by the Human Ethics office
• Level 2 – low risk - Ethics review by a Regional Ethics Review Committee (RERC)
• Level 3 – greater than low risk - Ethics review by Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC)

All applications for ethics approval must be endorsed by the Head of School (or recognised equivalent). The Ethics and Compliance Office assesses the ethical risk of the application based on guidance from the National Statement ethics and assigns the most appropriate ethics review.

Exempt, Level 1 and 2:

Many human research ethics applications do not need to be reviewed by the university's NHMRC-registered Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC). These applications are reviewed via a low-risk pathway, following a process that does not usually require a physical meeting by reviewers. There is no deadline for review, applications are processed on a first in basis. Review timeframes vary depending on the complexity of the application, and the availability of reviewers.

Level 3

All applications that are assessed as greater than low risk are assigned to the Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) for review. There are two HRECs, each meeting monthly. There is no deadline for applications to the HRECs. Agendas close two weeks prior to a meeting. Applications that have undergone a preliminary quality check are assigned to agendas on a first in basis, until the agenda is full. Applications missing inclusion on an agenda will be included in the agenda for the next HREC meeting (usually in 2 weeks).

The Human Ethics office endeavours to process all ethics applications as quickly as possible. Processing time is often longer for more complex applications. Processing time may also be increased where applications are incomplete or do not meet the required standard for ethics review. Therefore, all researchers have a key role to play in reducing processing time for ethics applications to a minimum.

From the time an ethics application is endorsed by the Head of School our aim is to process all applications through review according to the following schedule: