Date:
Location:
HARVARD COLLEGE STUDENTS ENGAGING IN RESEARCH WITH HUMAN SUBJECTS:
INFORMATION ABOUT INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD (IRB) TRAINING AND THE PROTOCOL SUBMISSION PROCESS—FALL 2015
Harvard College students considering a research project that includes interaction with and gathering or using any data sets about living people must submit their proposal for review to the Committee on the Use of Human Subjects (CUHS), which is the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Undergraduates conducting human subjects research are required to receive training by the IRB prior to undertaking the project.
To help undergraduates properly prepare to conduct human subjects research, the IRB will offer training in the fall of 2015 (for spring and summer 2016 projects). This training is designed to help you develop a proposal that minimizes risk and to guide you on completing templates for the protocol and informed consent documents. You may choose one of two ways to undertake the training provided by the IRB, as follows:
1. Human subjects training seminars for undergraduates will be offered on the following dates:
Wednesday, November 18, 4:00-5:30pm, Harvard Hall 103
Thursday, December 3, 5:00-6:30pm, Harvard Hall 201
If you DO attend one of these group seminars, training in the ethics of human subjects research is included. Training seminar attendees will NOT be required to complete the online module of the ethics of human subjects research offered by the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI). Attendance at the seminars will be automatically recorded by CUHS as satisfying the training requirement.
2. If you DO NOT attend one of the spring group seminars (or seminars that will be held in the fall for academic year 2015-16 projects) you are required to complete CITI training, which you may access at http://cuhs.harvard.edu/required-ethics-training .
If your research includes a human subjects component and you cannot attend one of the group seminars, please make plans now to undertake the required on-line training. Once protocols are submitted they may take up to four weeks for approval, and you may not begin your research until your project has been cleared by the IRB. Some protocols pose greater risk to research subjects and therefore require additional review, which may take more than four weeks for approval.
It would be most beneficial for you to have met with your faculty adviser to discuss your project prior to attending the IRB sessions, although it is not required. If you are well prepared for the IRB sessions, the staff will be able to answer specific questions about your protocol.
Feel free to contact the IRB office at 617-496-2847 with any questions you may have about protocol training or the parameters for engaging human subjects in research. Or, you may contact the Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships at 617-495-5095. With best wishes for all your academic research endeavors,
Yours truly—Greg Llacer.
Gregory A. Llacer
Director, Harvard College Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (URAF)
Director, Harvard College Program for Research in Science and Engineering (PRISE)
Harvard University | 77 Dunster Street | Cambridge, MA 02138 | 617.384-7995
http://uraf.harvard.edu