Brock University is committed to the responsible and ethical conduct of research.

The fundamental imperative of research involving human participants is encapsulated in three core principles: respect for persons, concern for welfare, and justice. To this end, Brock University endorses and adheres to the principles set out in the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans – TCPS 2 (2022) as approved and amended by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

The Office of Research Ethics (ORE) is responsible for the ethical oversight of research involving human participants and provides centralized administrative and educational functions related to research ethics review.

Brock University Research Ethics Boards (REBs)

Brock University has two REBs:

• Health Sciences Research Ethics Board (HREB) which reviews all applications from the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, and
• Social Science Research Ethics Board (SREB) which reviews applications from all other academic units.

A sub-committee specific to Indigenous research advises both boards on matters of cultural protocols, history, and tradition. If you are conducting research including or related to Indigenous Peoples of Canada please refer to TCPS 2 (2022) – Chapter 9: Research Involving the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples of Canada and contact the ORE at reb@brocku.ca for additional support.

All human participant research, whether funded or non-funded, conducted under the auspices and/or jurisdiction of Brock must undergo review and receive ethics clearance from one of Brock’s REBs prior to the start of the project. This applies regardless of the Brock members’ contribution or the location of the research site and includes research conducted by faculty, staff and/or students, as well as course-based research undertaken by students for pedagogical purposes and/or course credit.

If your research involves collaborative partnerships among researchers from multiple institutions, either within Canada or internationally, special considerations apply as outlined in TCPS2 (2022) Chapter 8: Multi-Jurisdictional Research. For information on multi-jurisdictional research requirements, contact the ORE at reb@brocku.ca.

APPLICATION AND REVIEW PROCESSES FOR HUMAN PARTICIPANT RESEARCH

At present, the REB and ORE are functioning at full capacity.  Please be sure to check here for any posted changes to service (holidays, university closures, etc.) and plan your submissions accordingly.

Researchers can apply directly to the Office of Research Ethics by emailing submissions to reb@brocku.ca. Research Ethics applications must include an assessment of potential risks to participants, and where relevant, detail any risk-mitigation strategies to be implemented.

Turn-around time (from submission to first decision) for minimal risk projects is approximately 15-20 working days. Projects posing greater than minimal risk are reviewed at pre-scheduled, monthly meetings. In accordance with Canadian guidelines and Brock policy, the REB may require modifications to research or suspend research where participant or researcher welfare is at stake.