Guide for Obtaining Ethics Approval
SON Guide to obtain ethics approval for Research or Course-Based Activities
This guide has been developed to assist faculty and students in the School of Nursing as they implement research or course-based activities involving humans. All research involving humans requires ethics approval from the Research Ethics Board. All course-based activities involving humans requires approval from the School of Nursing Research & Scholarly Development Committee.
Course-based ethics
Any course-based activities in your courses involving human participants require approval by the School of Nursing Research and Scholarly Development Committee for minimal risk assignments or approval from Dalhousie Research Ethics Board for more than minimal risk assignments in compliance with Dalhousie University ethical guidelines. These course-based activities could include students conducting interviews, focus groups, or surveys with people as a part of course assignments. This does not include clinical placements as confidentiality agreements have already been signed.
If you are including any course-based activities as part of any course in the upcoming semester, please complete and submit the form “Request for Approval for Course-Based Activities Involving Human Participants” along with the assignment description and informed consent form for participants to the Associate Director, Research & International Affairs and copied to Research Manager. Forms available from Julie Barry Julie.barry@dal.ca.
Deadlines for submission are 15 August for Fall Courses, 30 November for Winter Courses and 30 March for Summer courses. Reminders will be sent out one month prior to deadlines. Early submission is welcome.
Research Ethics, Dalhousie
Contact: Hillary Ferguson, Ph.D.(c), Manager, Research Ethics Health Sciences. Email: hillary.ferguson@dal.ca Phone: 902-431-0169
Areas of responsibility:
- Provides guidance to researchers about the ethics review process; interprets and applies ethical principles, university policies, and the TCPS to provide advising services in the context of individual research projects
- Conducts pre-reviews of research ethics submissions and evaluates research projects for ethical acceptability
- Writes review letters; collaborates with Board members to resolve difficult ethical issues
- Conducts continuing ethical reviews for each research project annually and ensures continued ethical conduct and risk mitigation; authorizes annual renewals, study closures and exemptions from research ethics review.
Course on research ethics
Researchers are strongly encouraged to complete the online tutorial, TCPS 2: Course on Research Ethics (CORE). CORE was designed to support the Canadian research community’s implementation of the second edition of the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS 2). It focuses on the research ethics guidance that is applicable to all research involving human participants, regardless of discipline or methodology.
Research Ethics drop-in office hours
The Dalhousie Research Ethics staff are hosting virtual drop-in office hours on the last Wednesday of every month. We welcome you to consult directly with a research ethics manager with questions about the ethical conduct of research involving humans, how to apply research ethics principles in the context of your project, the Dalhousie research ethics application form and review process.
To visit us for drop-in office hours, please follow the link below for access to the virtual meeting room during drop-in times on the last Wednesday of every month from 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm AST: https://ca.bbcollab.com/guest/8f8a384b3e4d4f499dbc20c4336ba6aa
For further information, go to https://www.dal.ca/dept/research-services/responsible-conduct-/research-ethics-/faqs.html
Mi'kmaw and Indigenous Health Research Ethics
Dalhousie University is on the unceded, ancestral territory of the Mi'kmaw.
The Mi'kmaw of NS have specific research protocols in place for students and faculty interested in conducting health research with Mi'kmaq or including 'Indigenous' as a subgroup demographic in research. Community engagement is the first step prior to research proposal development, funding submission and finally ethics submission approval.
Please consult TCPS Chapter 9 for more information about community engagement and conducting research with Indigenous peoples in Canada https://ethics.gc.ca/eng/tcps2-eptc2_2022_chapter9-chapitre9.html
After community engagement and ethical approval in research involving Mi’kmaw communities in NS, please refer to the following links: Mi’kmaq Ethics Watch https://mawkim.org/mikmaw-ethics-watch/
Dalhousie has specific resources available related to community engagement and consent https://www.dal.ca/research-and-innovation/support-for-researchers/indigenous-research-resources.html
IWK Health has specific resources related to Indigenous health research https://achh.ca/education/ihrac/
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Dalhousie Research Ethics Board Guidelines on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning https://cdn.dal.ca/content/dam/dalhousie/pdf/research-services/REB/SoLT_Guidelines_final_2017Feb10.pdf
Centre for Learning and Teaching, Dalhousie
Contact: Kate Thompson, PhD (she/her)
Educational Developer (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning)
Email: thompskm@dal.ca
As the Educational Developer (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning), I support and promote the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) at Dalhousie by working with instructors, academic departments, and faculties. This work includes delivering professional development opportunities like the Centre’s SoTL Scholars Program, as well as workshops and consultations surrounding SoTL topics. I sit on Dalhousie’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Ethics Board (SSHREB),and am available to support faculty in preparing REB applications for their SoTL projects.
IWK Ethics
https://iwkhealth.ca/research/support-researchers/research-ethics
NSH Ethics
https://innovationhub.nshealth.ca/research-ethics-board-reb
Note: Dalhousie University REB accepts REB approval from IWK and NSH but this is not reciprocated.