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Research Ethics

UPDATE (April 22nd, 2022) Face to Face Research with Human Participants

In line with the President’s recent message to the York University Community regarding health and safety requirements, please see the following update regarding compliance requirements for face-to-face human participant research.

Effective May 1, 2022 the following apply:    

  • Health and safety plans for human participant research for all risk levels will no longer be required.
  • COVID information consent letters for human participant research will no longer be required.
  • Masks will continue to be required in all indoor spaces at York, including instructional, research, work, and shared/common spaces. Researchers conducting human participant studies on campus are required to wear a mask until further notice.
  • Off-campus research (local, domestic, and international) must adhere to public health requirements in effect at the venue/country where research is being conducted.

The following Guidance Documents and related protocols/processes will no longer be required; links to these resources will be removed from the Better Together website and the ORE website:

  • Return to Campus Checklist for Labs, Research and Machine Shops
  • Health and Safety Plan for Human Participant Research
  • COVID-19 consent language - face to face research
  • Human participants review committee protocol instructions
  • How To Restart In-Person Research
  • Research Restart for Step 3 of the Provincial Roadmap to Reopen
  • Standardized HS plan for Low and Moderate Risk F2F research
  • Health and Safety Plan for Greater than low-moderate risk and Research outside of Canada
  • Covid-19 Consent language for face-to-face research

Effective May 1, York will pause its COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate and required symptom screening on YU Screen (May 4 for Osgoode students, faculty and staff).  At this time, Proof of Vaccination for researchers and study participants, including vulnerable populations, will no longer be required.

However, researchers conducting human participant research at an off-campus location will be required to follow the Proof of Vaccination and/or public health requirements of the organization/hospital/group/country where the research is being conducted, if applicable.

York continues to work with public health authorities in the event that it becomes necessary to reinstate proof of vaccination on very short notice after May 1. 

York community members should continue to self-monitor for symptoms and must not come to campus if they are feeling unwell. Should there be any further changes to public health restrictions on York’s campuses, the community will be notified promptly. Please continue to check Better Together for the most current information and ongoing updates. 

The Office of Research Ethics (ORE) is here to help academics seeking to undertake research that involves human, animals or biological agents.

We provide the research community at York University with support, guidance and oversight throughout the process. We provide the resources and expertise necessary for faculty to complete the appropriate ethics review process in an efficient and timely manner.

More specifically, we offer the following:

  • A wide variety of consultative and advisory services, including one-on-one assistance to researchers – both Faculty and student - with regards to policy and its applications, the completion of protocols, forms and the design of consent documents;
  • Pre-review of ethics documents to ensure timely review by ethics committee(s);
  • Resources and information regarding research ethics guidelines and requirements; and
  • Workshops and seminars on research ethics

Does your research need ethics approval?

Just a reminder that all research involving human, animals or biological agents must be reviewed by the relevant ethics review committee prior to the start of any research – this includes research led by students but with whom Faculty members collaborate.  Access to research funds will not be granted until the appropriate approvals are in place.

For more information on whether your research requires ethics review or not, please please see Tip Sheet 3 and Ethics Roadmap Flowchart (© Cross Campus Campstone Classroom).

Didn’t find what you need? Feel free to contact us.

NameTitleEmailTelephone
Alison Collins-MrakasDirector, Research Ethicsacollins@yorku.ca416-736-5914
Pelin Asci (on leave)Manager, Research Ethicspelin87@yorku.ca416-736-5201
Wendy JokhooActing Manager, Research Ethics wjokhoo@yorku.ca416-736-5201
Michael XavierACC Coordinatoraccinfo@yorku.cax44040
Nadia D'AngeloResearch Ethics Review Coordinatornaddan@yorku.cax40363

In continued furtherance of the goal of facilitating a broader understanding of research ethics policy and processes within the research community, ORE provides a variety of educational and outreach activities throughout the academic year.

Researchers may contact the Office of Research Ethics to book an appointment or request a presentation for the following:

  1. Ethics 101
    This presentation is made available to all researchers (Staff/Faculty/Students) and provides a general overview of ethics policies, procedures and protocols.  All aspects of the requirements for the submission of an ethics protocol are covered, as are general questions regarding ethics review processes. Faculty and Staff can contact the Office of Research Ethics to book a presentation for an Undergraduate or Graduate class,  Faculty Council meeting, or any other meeting where ethics education or outreach may be required.
  2. Brown-bag sessions
    In addition to providing an overview of ethics review processes, policies and procedures, the Brown Bag Series will provide new resources on research ethics, relevant to researchers conducting research with human participants. 
    At this time there are no scheduled brown-bag sessions
  3. Information Sessions for the Research Community (Faculty, staff, graduate & undergraduate students)
    To support the work of the Delegated Research Ethics Review Committees.
    At this time there are no schedule information sessions.

York University has three university-wide ethics review committees:

  • The Human Participants Review Committee (HPRC)
  • Animal Care Committee (ACC)
  • Biological Safety Committee (BSC)

The committees are charged with the responsibility for conducting independent, multi-disciplinary review and approval of all research proposals involving humans, animals or biological agents/biohazardous materials. They are subcommittees of the relevant Senate research committee (APPRC) and report to York University Senate through APPRC.

The ultimate responsibility for the administration of research ethics policies and procedures, resides in the Office of the Associate Vice-President Research. Operationally, the Sr. Manager & Policy Advisor, Office of Research Ethics provides oversight, management and implementation of Senate Ethics policies as they relate to research involving humans, animals and or biological agents/biohazardous materials. ORE faciliates compliance with all relevant ethics regulations within the university research context.

Research Conducted by External Researchers

Similar to other educational institutions, York University receives requests by external researchers (researchers who are not affiliated with the York University community in any capacity) to conduct research on campus and/or involving York University community members be they staff, faculty or students.

Research conducted at York University and/or with/involving York University community members (Staff/Faculty/Students) is subject to review and approval by the HRPC. As it is difficult to provide the necessary oversight of researchers external to York University and as the HPRC/ORE has little recourse with regards to the activities of external researchers, it is necessary to require external researchers to provide proof of approval from their own research institution’s REB, prior to submitting a protocol to the HPRC for review. Research conducted by external researchers which is not subject to review by other institutional REBs and thus does not have external REB approval, shall be considered for review by the HPRC on a case by case basis. However, such research, if more than minimal risk, shall not be reviewed by the HPRC.

Researchers should:

  1. Provide the Office of Research Ethics with a copy of their home institution’s REB approval certificate. In the absence of an approval certificate, external researchers shall contact ORE for further information and guidance re the potential for review.
  2. Submit an ethics protocol to the HPRC for review and approval. Please contact the Office of Research Ethics for a copy of the form (ore@yorku.ca or phone 416-736-5914 or 476-736-5201).

Protocol Submission Deadline  

Please be advised that given the 20-day turn-around time for protocol approvals, protocols received after Friday November 19th, 2021 will not be circulated to the committee until the New Year. 

In addition, due to the significant volume of protocols generally received in November, protocols received up to and including Friday November 19th, 2021 will be reviewed by the committee; however, committee comments and/or approvals may not be forwarded to the researchers until the 2nd week in January 2022 when the University re-opens.

NOTE: For those External researchers that are simply posting flyers throughout York University and not utilizing any university resources (departments/ faculties/ university listservs etc), and have ethics approval from their home institution, further ethics review from the HPRC (York’s REB) is not required.

Said external researchers must provide copies of the following documents to ORE:

  • REB approval certificate from home institution
  • Posters to be distributed around the campus

The Office of Research Ethics is not responsible for the authorization of posting any flyers or advertisements at the University. Please contact the relevant university office for further information.

Review Process

Overview

York University is committed to the highest standards of integrity in research. All projects involving the use of Human Participants, Animals and Biological Agents are subject to review by the appropriate University committee. York has formulated policies for the conduct of research involving all three of these areas.

All research involving humans, animals and/or biological agents/biohazardous materials conducted by faculty, staff or students, regardless of where the research is conducted, is subject to review and approval by the relevant ethics committee and /or its delegate ethics review committee in accordance with relevant guidelines, policies and regulations. It is the policy of the University that researchers conducting research involving human subjects, animals and/or biohazardous agents must obtain approval of their research from the relevant ethics committee prior to commencing research activities.

NOTE: Ethics approval is required regardless of whether the research is funded or not (this includes pilot and/or preliminary research)

The following links will provide you with an in-depth explanation of the research ethics review processes for research with:

FAQs

For general research news and events, awards, funding and new developments pertaining to Research & Innovation, please check the news and events links as well as the @YUResearch Twitter feed.

For all COVID-19-related news, visit the page YU Better Together.