Documentation:Orientation for New Researchers/Research Ethics
Ethical Review and Compliance
UBC policy requires that certain research conducted at the University or its affiliated hospitals, or conducted by UBC faculty, must be reviewed by a UBC Research Ethics Board or Committee. Research that must be reviewed and approved before the research starts, and before research funding can be released, includes:
1) research involving animals, fish and invertebrates;
2) research involving bacteria, viruses, plasmids, recombinant DNA, animal tissues or other biohazards; and
3) research involving human subjects, including human tissue or bodily fluids, and human stem cells.
Research involving human participants at UBC must adhere to the provisions of the Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS) and all researchers conducting studies involving human participants are required to complete the TCPS online tutorial.
Graduate research is conducted under the auspices of a Faculty Advisor, who is the named Principal Investigator for the research. If you supervise a graduate student’s research you are accepting ultimate responsibility for ethical conduct of the research. Your graduate student will be named as a co-investigator in the application.
All research ethics applications must be submitted online through the Researcher Information Services (RISe) system. All of the ethics forms including applications for approval, amendments and renewals are accompanied by extensive guidance notes. These can be accessed through links in the application and other forms; we strongly recommend you refer to them in the event that you have questions concerning how to complete your application or post-approval form.
It is important that your application be submitted to the correct ethics committee, to avoid delay to the review process.
Animal Care Committee
The Animal Care Committee reviews all research involving animals, fish or invertebrates. Research, teaching or testing involving the use of animals at UBC must adhere to the UBC Animal Care Committee and Canadian Council on Animal Care guidelines. All researchers or personnel involved in animal research are required to complete online animal care training.
Biosafety Committee
The Biosafety Committee reviews all research that involves bacteria, viruses, plasmids, recombinant DNA, animal tissues, human blood or tissue or other biohazards.
Human Ethical Review
UBC Behavioural Research Ethics Boards
The two Behavioural Research Ethics Boards (BREB A and B) currently review all non-invasive research involving human participants, including research involving interviews, focus groups, aptitude testing, internet surveys, telephone polls, questionnaires, psychological testing and other methods.
UBC Clinical Research Ethics Board
The Clinical Research Ethics Board (CREB) reviews all medical research such as clinical trials, studies with blood or tissue samples, medical imaging, and exercise programs designed to treat a medical condition that involve blood, tissue, or medical imaging, genetic analysis, and human stem cell research, except studies under the purview of the B.C. Cancer Agency Research Ethics Board or the Providence Health Care Research Ethics Board.
BC Cancer Agency Research Ethics Board
The BC Cancer Agency Research Ethics Board reviews all adult cancer-related clinical studies and some behavioural studies that are conducted by researchers at the BC Cancer Agency.
Children & Women’s Research Ethics Board
The Children & Women’s Research Ethics Board reviews all research that takes place at Children & Women’s Hospital and all research conducted by C&W, staff whether or not it is conducted at Children & Women’s Hospital.
Providence Health Care Research Ethics Board
The Providence Health Care Research Ethics Board reviews all research that takes place at the Providence Health Care site and all research conducted by PHC staff, whether or not it is conducted at the Providence Health Care site.