Ethics application

According to the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research, research conducted with or about people, or their data or tissue is considered Human research and requires obtaining ethical clearance prior to commencing research. Human participation includes the involvement of human beings in the following activities:

• surveys, interviews or focus groups;
• psychological, physiological or medical testing or treatments;
• observation by researchers;
• having their personal documents or other materials accessed;
• collection and use of their body organs, tissues or fluids (e.g. skin, blood, urine, saliva, hair, bones, tumor and other biopsy specimens) or their exhaled breath, and;
• their information (in individually identifiable, re-identifiable or non-identifiable form) as part of an existing published or unpublished source or database being accessed.

UQ’s requirements and processes related to obtaining ethics approval for human research are detailed in Human Research Ethics Procedure. 

For researchers submitting applications for the first time, or for those who are not familiar with all areas of the National Statement, Research Ethics and Integrity have synthesized research questions according to the elements and principles of the National Statement. The aim of the interactive graphic Principles and Elements of Human Research Ethics is to prompt researchers in contemplating any ethical considerations when designing their human research project.

All ethics submissions, including new applications, amendments, exemptions, ratifications, adverse event and annual reports are now made through UQ’s MyResearch system.

Information on using the system is available in the MyResearch Training Hub.

The decision support tool will assist you in determining the best pathway for your human research ethics application.

Lower Risk Research

All research involving humans that is lower risk research can be reviewed by one our Faculty-based ethics review panels. Please refer to the Lower Risk Research page for more information.

Full Committee Review

All research involving humans that is greater than low or negligible risk will be reviewed by one of UQ’s Human Research Ethics Committees (HRECs) in a full committee meeting. Regardless of the risk level, HREC review is required when research involves:

• request a waiver of consent to access a person's personal information in medical research, or personal health information
• people who are highly dependent on medical care who may be unable to give consent
• people with a cognitive impairment, an intellectual disability or mental illness
• people who may be involved in illegal activities
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

Ratifications

UQ researchers who have obtained external ethics approval must submit the external notification of approval and all approved documentation for administrative review. 

Projects involving any of the following require ratification of the external ethics approval:

• UQ is the lead institution (Principal Investigator),
• UQ is the sponsor,
• UQ students undertaking research for their degree at the other institution (e.g. a hospital), and/or
• UQ is a research site (e.g. testing and/or recruitment of participants at UQ),

All modifications to the original approval, incident reports and annual reports must also be submitted to UQ for review. Applications for ratification must be made through MyResearch by the lead UQ investigator.

Registration

All projects with external ethics approval that do not meet the conditions for ratification must be registered with UQ. The lead UQ investigator is responsible for registering the project through MyResearch.

Amendments

Researchers who wish to make any changes to an approved project will need to apply for an amendment through the approving committee. Amendments are made through MyResearch. Projects are approved for 5 years, after which a new application is required.

Exemption

Some lower risk research may be exempt from ethics review if it meets all the following criteria:

• The research meets the definition of lower risk research,
• The research involves the use of existing collections of data or records that contain only non-identifiable information about human beings. The majority of existing collections of data that would be eligible for exemption are publicly available sources of aggregate information, and
• The original data collection and the proposed use of the data are consistent with the ethical principles outlined in the National Statement. Researchers must confirm that conditions of consent were appropriate and that the original consent covers the proposed research.
• Permission from the data custodian is obtained prior to accessing the data and any conditions of access are observed.

An application for exemption must be made through MyResearch.

Should the application for exemption not be approved, researchers will be required to apply to the relevant ethics body at the University (HREC or LNR review).

If your project involves UQ Anatomy resources you must have UQ Anatomy approval prior to submitting your application to UQ HREC.  Please see Request for Anatomical Resources.

Projects involving hospitals should first be submitted for ethics review to the relevant hospital HREC using their online form. A project involves a hospital if it includes any of the following:

• collecting data on hospital sites;
• access to hospital data/patients/staff;
• a hospital staff member is part of the research team.

Projects proposals involving defence personnel (serving or retired), defence funding or defence sites need to be reviewed by Defence and Veteran Affairs HREC.

Project proposals involving coronial material (data or tissues) should be forwarded to Forensic and Scientific Services Human Ethics Committee.

Once approval has been secured from the external HREC, ratification needs to be sought from UQ (see the ‘Ethics Review Pathways’ tab on this page).

The University of Queensland has two multi-disciplinary Human Research Ethics Committees (HRECs). As these HRECs are not discipline-specific, ethics applications will be allocated to the HRECs based solely on the date of submission.

Submission and meeting dates

Check the 2024 meeting dates calendar (PDF, 82.9 KB). 

Each HREC meets every four weeks on a Thursday with a two week interval between the meeting of HREC A and HREC B following the  UQ Terms of Reference for HREC A and HREC B (PDF, 105.5 KB) and UQ Standard Operating Procedures for HREC A and HREC B  (PDF, 634.4 KB)

HREC meetings are capped to a maximum of 12 new applications per meeting. In addition to new applications, committees consider other business at each meeting, and the cap is important to ensure the committee has sufficient time to consider all ethical issues in each application and that members are not overburdened by the workload. Applications will be scheduled according to time of submission and completeness. 

To ensure that your application is available for consideration at a meeting, you need to ensure that your final complete MyResearch application is submitted by 5:00pm AEST of the cut-off date for that meeting. At some busier times of the year an application may be deferred to the next available meeting. Applicants will be notified if this occurs.

The University of Queensland’s world-class medical, behavioural and social science research continues to provide solutions to some of the greatest problems of our time: the needs of young and ageing Australians, investigating new ways to diagnose and treat infectious diseases and address the soaring rates of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, mental illness, and cancer.

For research that involves human participants, UQ’s HRECs review proposals to ensure that values and principles that apply to all human research are fully considered. These Committees include volunteer members from the following categories:

• Lay person — People who bring a broader community or consumer perspective and who have no paid affiliation with the institution; 
• Practitioner — People with knowledge of, and current experience in, the professional care, counselling or treatment of people; for example, a nurse, counsellor or allied health professional;
• Pastoral care — People who perform a pastoral care role in a community including but not limited to an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander elder or community leader, a chaplain or a minister of religion or other religious leader;
• Lawyer – A qualified lawyer, who may or may not be currently practicing and, where possible is not engaged to advice the institution on research – related or any other matters; and
• Researchers – People with current research experience that is relevant to research proposals to be considered at the meeting they attend.

You can help in an important and practical way. Your input as a Committee member will help us in the ethical review of human research that will be working to deliver the next medical and social breakthroughs for society. 

Please contact us at humanethics@research.uq.edu.au if you are interested in joining our Committees or wish to learn more about the role of Committee members.

An "appeal" here means a written submission from a researcher to the Chairperson of the approving Committee (in the first instance) about a dispute. 

Appeals regarding HREC rejection

Where the HREC has rejected an application, the investigator has the discretion to:

• Submit a new application to the same HREC, taking due account of the HREC’s concerns; or
• Lodge an appeal with the HREC Chairperson (via the Committee Coordinator) specifying the grounds of the appeal in writing. The HREC Chairperson will respond directly to the appellant regarding the outcome of the review.

Appeals regarding HREC approval

Where the HREC has given a favourable decision on an application, and;

• An ethical or scientific issue is subsequently identified by any party; or
• It has become apparent that the decision was based on inconsistent application of policy and guidelines

A written appeal is lodged with the Chairperson (via the Committee Coordinator) in the first instance.

Appeals to Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation)

If the appellant considers the HREC has failed to follow due process after making an appeal in line with the above and remains unsatisfied with the outcome, they have the discretion to lodge an appeal with the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) or request that the Chairperson do so through the Committee Coordinator. The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) may refer the matter to another UQ HREC, external HREC, or seek other expert advice as appropriate.

The National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research requires registered HRECs to regularly monitor all approved projects. To help ensure compliance the University has the following checkpoints in place.

• Annual Progress Reports: Reports are due on the anniversary of the approval date of your project. For example if the project was approved on 8 January, the annual report is due by 8 January each year until the completion of the project. Annual reports are made through MyResearch.

• Random audits: The ethics committee may undertake audits of the Projects it has approved as a mechanism for monitoring research. The audit confirms that the project is being conducted in accordance with its approval.

• Serious Adverse Events (SAE)/ suspected unexpected serious adverse reactions (SUSARs) are required to be submitted to the reviewing Ethics Committee within 72 hours of the event occurring. Serious Adverse Events are made through MyResearch.

• Final report: On completion of the project the Chief investigator is required to submit a final report. Final reports are made through MyResearch.

• Complaints: It is recommended that research participants discuss any concerns that may arise from their participation in the research with the researchers themselves. Please refer to the Human Research Ethics Procedure for more information. However, if they wish to talk to an officer of the University of Queensland who is not connected with the project they can contact the Director of the Office of Research Ethics or Human Ethics Coordinators.

Please contact the human ethics team