Human Research Ethics

The University of Calgary promotes high ethics standards consistent with the Tri-Council Policy Statement  (TCPS2 2022), Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans thereby ensuring respect for persons, concern for their welfare and justice

All research, funded or unfunded, involving humans, their data, or human biological materials conducted within the University of Calgary’s jurisdiction or under its auspices, regardless of where the research is conducted must be reviewed by, and receive approval from, the appropriate University of Calgary Research Ethics Board (REB) before research begins.

Research is defined as “an undertaking intended to extend knowledge through a disciplined inquiry and/or systematic investigation” (TCPS2: p 13)

There are two REBs that review research applications: The Conjoint Faculties Research Ethics Board (CFREB) and the Conjoint Health Research Ethics Board (CHREB).

Conjoint Faculties Research Ethics Board

The CFREB reviews applications from researchers affiliated with following faculties: Arts, Engineering, Environmental Design, Law, Science, Social Work, Veterinary Medicine, Institutes associated with any of these faculties, Haskayne School of Business, Werklund School of Education, and Libraries and Cultural Resources.

Conjoint Health Research Ethics Board

The CHREB reviews applications from researchers affiliated with the faculties of Kinesiology, Nursing, and the Cumming School of Medicine. The CHREB is the board of record for researchers in any Faculty who will be using personal health information (i.e., diagnostic, treatment, or care information held by a health care custodian such as Alberta Health Services) for research purposes.

Training

As of September 1, 2018, in keeping with national standards, all University of Calgary researchers (i.e., faculty, students, residents, postdoctoral fellows, and research staff) engaging in research with humans must complete human research ethics training prior to submitting an application for ethics review. This training requirement can be fulfilled by completing either of the below and uploading the certificate to your Researcher Profile in IRISS.

TCPS2 CORE Tutorial, or CITI Human Subjects Research Course (Biomedical or Social Behavioral-Educational module, whichever is most relevant to your discipline)

Principal Investigators are responsible for ensuring that all study team members have one of the above training modules complete. These must be available upon request.

Download the Researcher Profile User Guide for instructions on uploading the certificate to your Researcher Profile in IRISS.

TCPS2

The TCPS2 CORE tutorial provides an applied approach to understanding the guidance provided in the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans.

This self-paced course is a media-rich learning experience that features interactive exercises and multi-disciplinary examples.

Complete the TCPS2 CORE Tutorial

CITI

As a member of Network of Networks (N2), University of Calgary faculty, staff and students can access the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) courses.

Download the CITI Program User Guide for instructions to access the training.

Complete the CITI Program