Institutional Review Board (IRB)

Submit a Research Proposal

To submit a Research Proposal, complete this Google Form.

Investigators will be notified about IRB decisions as quickly as possible during the academic year. Expected notification times are 2 weeks for exempt review; 1 month for expedited review, and 2 months for full review. Notification times will be longer for proposals submitted over the summer or winter breaks.

Proposals that receive exempt or expedited review may be approved without a full board meeting, however, the IRB may not conduct reviews between the May and September meetings. Proposals that receive full review can only be approved at a full board meeting.

• Research Proposal Form

• Informed consent template

• Debriefing template

• Debriefing template for studies that use deception or incomplete disclosure

Training

Any PI submitting a research proposal must complete the NIH Protecting Human Research Participants certification course (or equivalent training in human research ethics). A certificate of completion is required prior to approval. If the IRB determines that the proposal requires expedited or full review, a certificate of completion from all co-PIs will also be required.

Please contact the IRB to request reimbursement for the cost of the NIH training.

Board Meetings

The IRB meets on the first Tuesday of February, March, April, May, September, October, November, and December. There are no IRB meetings in January, June, July, or August. Please plan your submissions accordingly.

• Fall 2023 Meetings: September 5, October 3, November 7, December 5
• Spring 2024 Meetings: February 6, March 5, April 2, May 7

Notify the IRB of Your Course Project

The HSR policy allows an exception to IRB approval for some "course projects" that use human subjects. Information regarding that exception can be found at this link.

It is useful for the IRB to track how many course projects are occuring and for instructors and students to verify that they are following the guidelines for such projects. We strongly encourage instructors and/or students engaged in HSR for course projects to notify the IRB of the project by completing this Google Form.