Report of the Advisory Research Committee (ARC) Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Human Subjects

Approved by the Senate: October 1999

[replaces the Report of the Advisory Research Committee on the Ethics Review of Research Involving Human Subjects (1973)]

?At its meeting of May 26, 1999, Senate referred to the Advisory Research Committee, for its consideration and recommendation, the Report of the Advisory Committee on Research Ethics Boards (REB's) at Queen's University.

In September 1998, MRC, NSERC and SSHRC adopted the Tri-Council Policy Statement on Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans. Institutions and researchers are required to comply with the new guidelines in order to be eligible for support from the three federal granting councils. An Advisory Committee was established in November 1998 to report to the Vice-Principal (Research) by May 1999 on issues related to the implementation of the Tri-Council policy at Queen's. The Advisory Committee recommended that the Tri-Council policy be adopted, replacing the 1973 policy: The Report of the Advisory Research Committee on the Ethics Review of Research Involving Human Subjects, and that its implementation be as described in the Report of the Advisory Committee on Research Ethics Boards at Queen's.

The Tri-council policy statement can be accessed from the National Council on Ethics in Human Research website address, http://ncehr-cnerh.org/.

The report of the Advisory Committee was distributed to the members of ARC for comments in March 1999 and as part of the agenda of the ARC September 1, 1999 meeting. It was discussed by the ARC at its meeting of September 30, 1999. The ARC made the following points:

  • In projects that involve external partners, measures should be taken by the Research Ethics Boards to assure themselves that the partners will follow appropriate policies regarding ethical conduct for research involving humans
  • A review of the policy should be undertaken after 5 years of its implementation
  • Education sessions should be held as the policy comes into effect
  • The Health Science REB should continue with its current membership provided that the procedures outlined in Section 1.1 are used for the appointment of new members

Motion:

That the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Human Subjects, be adopted at Queen's University replacing the 1973 Policy: The Report of the Advisory Research Committee on the Ethics Review of Research Involving Human Subjects, and that its implementation be as described in the Report of the Advisory Committee on Research Ethics Boards at Queen's University.

Suzanne Fortier
Vice-Principal (Research)
Chair, Advisory Research Committee