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As outlined in the Tri-Council Policy Statement 2: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS2), research involving human participants and research involving human biological materials require ethics review and clearance by a research ethics board (REB) before the research commences.
Therefore, research involving human participants and/or human biological materials conducted by Laurier students, faculty and staff requires review and clearance by the REB.
If you are an undergraduate student conducting minimal risk research as part of your coursework, the review may be delegated to your departmental Research Ethics Committee.
Romeo is Laurier’s online application system for REB review of research involving human participants. It must be used for review of all research projects by faculty, staff, graduate students, or undergraduate students when their supervisors will be using their data.*
Romeo provides access to all of your approved projects for future reference. Romeo is used for the submission of new projects, annual/final reports, modification requests, and adverse event reports.
See the Romeo Quick Reference Guide for instructions on registering with and using Romeo.
*Note: If you are an undergraduate student and your supervisor will not be using your research data as a part of their own research, the research is considered minimal risk, and does not involve Indigenous Peoples, including First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada, the Romeo system will not be used to submit an application. See Which Application to Submit for Review for more information on the review process you should follow.
The TCPS 2: CORE 2022 (Course on Research Ethics) tutorial provides an introduction to and examples of important principles from the TCPS 2. All Laurier individuals listed on an REB project (e.g., principal investigators, co-investigators, research assistants and supervisors) will need to complete the CORE tutorial and submit their certificate(s) of completion with their REB project.
REB projects will not be reviewed by the REB until all Laurier investigators listed on the project have completed the tutorial. Please ensure that the certificates for all those named on the project are uploaded into the Romeo system at the time of submission.
For further details about this requirement, refer to Policy 11.13: Ethics Review of Research Involving Humans.
The Secretariat on Responsible Conduct of Research (Secretariat) has launched a new version of the Tri-Council Policy Statement 2: Course on Research Ethics (TCPS2: CORE) tutorial, the TCPS2: CORE-2022. While it is advised that all faculty, students, and staff engaging in research with human participants complete this new tutorial as soon as possible, it is not presently a requirement to do so. Laurier’s Research Ethics Board (REB) will continue to accept the older version of the TCPS2: CORE tutorial until further notice.
Internal Researchers:
If your research project has received REB clearance from another institution, Laurier’s REB will review the application submitted to the other institution (including all associated materials and clearance letter) if it meets the following criteria:
Please note that a full-time Laurier faculty or staff member on an active employment contract will need to serve as the local Principal Investigator for the purposes of the Laurier REB application.
If the above criteria are met, please e-mail the full application package to the REB. The full application package should include the following documents. All documents should be clearly labelled.
External Researchers:
An external researcher is a researcher not employed by Laurier who wishes to access Laurier resources to conduct research. Such projects will need to be reviewed and approved by the Laurier REB. External researchers will first need to obtain REB approval from their home institution before the REB at Laurier will review their research.
Further, external researchers will need to identify a full time Laurier faculty member (adjunct or Contract Teaching Faculty (CTF) appointments do not qualify) as the principal investigator on their REB application to Laurier; external researchers can only be listed as co-investigators, not as the principal investigators on Laurier applications. Please contact the REB for further guidance on this process.
If your department has a Research Ethics Committee (REC) in place and the project is an undergraduate research activity, then it may be eligible for departmental REC review. This is the only application not administered through the Romeo system. Completed applications are submitted to the appropriate departmental REC and not the University REB. Please see Before You Apply for application criteria and Departmental Ethics Review for a list of departmental REC contacts and downloadable forms.
The Human Research Ethics Coordinator, Psychology and Research Ethics Coordinator coordinate any necessary clearances with the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB).
Local school boards have additional requirements that may not be part of the ethics review process at Laurier (e.g., consent is needed from principals, valid police checks for all researchers, and a separate research ethics application and review process from the school board’s Research Ethics Committee).
Contact Doreen Weise (Psychology Applicants) or Samantha Moeller (Non-Psychology Applicants) and see WRDSB Research and Evidence-Based Practice Department for additional details.
Applications to the WRDSB are currently being accepted.
Researchers who have general inquiries about external research, wish to submit an application to advertise or distribute information about a research opportunity to WRDSB schools or departments, or wish to submit an application are asked to contact Julie Scott by email at julie_scott@wrdsb.ca.
Ethics Application Deadline (Romeo) |
Research Application Deadline (WRDSB) |
Estimated Start Date of Project |
September 16, 2022 |
October 28, 2022 |
Beginning of January 2023 |
November 11, 2022 |
January 13, 2023 |
Beginning of March 2023 |
January 13, 2023 |
February 24, 2023* |
Mid-September 2023 |
*Note: this deadline is for applications to conduct research at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year. Approved projects may begin no earlier than September 18, 2023.
Every project that involves collecting information from human participants needs a consent/information letter. Such documents inform participants about your project, explain what they will be asked to do as participants and set out their rights and responsibilities. For more information and a downloadable template, see Informed Consent Guidelines.
If you have surveys or questionnaires or interview guides, they need to be attached to your application. If you are using an unstructured interview or focus group, attach a list of topics or questions that will be covered during the interview or focus group.
If you are recruiting participants with a poster, letter, or email, or telephone call, attach a copy of the materials used in the recruitment process. Researchers must list their REB tracking number on their recruitment materials. For more information and downloadable templates, see General Ethics Guidelines.
A debriefing statement/script must be submitted when researchers are using deception or concealment. Deception is the act of deliberately misleading participants. Concealment is the act of keeping information from participants without deceiving them.
This statement/script must be prepared in order to remove any misconceptions about the project that participants may have and to re-establish trust that might have been lost; be sure to explain why the deception or concealment was necessary. The participant must be assured that the deception or concealment was neither arbitrary nor capricious. In the interest of the right to withdraw at any time, participants would be allowed to remove their information from the research once the deception or concealment has been explained to them. For more information and a downloadable template, see Informed Consent Guidelines.
All applications, modification requests, annual/final reports, and adverse event reports submitted by a student must be approved by their faculty supervisor as a part of the submission process. Supervisors should send students an email in which they reference this project and indicate that they have reviewed and approved the scholarly methods of this project and that all necessary program reviews have taken place. Researchers should save a copy of this email (as a screenshot or pdf document) under the Attachments Tab in the Romeo application when applicable.
All Laurier investigators listed on the application are required to attach their TCPS 2 CORE certificates to the application.
The Secretariat on Responsible Conduct of Research (Secretariat) has launched a new version of the Tri-Council Policy Statement 2: Course on Research Ethics (TCPS2: CORE) tutorial, the TCPS2: CORE-2022. You may find the updated tutorial and further information on their website.
The new tutorial is designed to reflect the current TCPS 2 (2018) policy and to enhance the learning for researchers. The updated tutorial consists of nine modules and a knowledge consolidation exercise:
Module A1 – Introduction
Module A2 – Scope of TCPS 2
Module A3 – Risks and Benefits
Module A4 – Consent
Module A5 – Fairness and Equity
Module A6 – Privacy and Confidentiality
Module A7 – Conflicts of Interest
Module A8 – Research Ethics Board Review
Module A9 – Research Involving Indigenous Peoples
Knowledge Consolidation Exercise
While the modules are numbered in the suggested order of completion, they can be completed in any order and ach module now concludes with a 4-5 question quiz. The final knowledge consolidation exercise consists of 25 multiple-choice questions that will be randomly selected from a question pool.
In order to obtain the new CORE-2022 certificate of completion, users will need to obtain 80% correct on the final exercise. You may retake this exercise as necessary. This course is self-paced and should take approximately 4 hours to complete. It is possible to complete this tutorial in multiple sessions.
CORE-2022 will be compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) to ensure accessibility for all users.
While it is advised that all faculty, students, and staff engaging in research with human participants complete this new tutorial as soon as possible, it is not presently a requirement to do so. Laurier’s Research Ethics Board (REB) will continue to accept the older version of the TCPS2: CORE tutorial until further notice.
The Research Ethics Board (REB) grants approvals for a one-year period at a time and has a four-year maximum clearance period for projects involving human participants. You are required to submit annual reports to maintain clearance and may request a one-year extension when submitting your annual report (for up to a maximum of four years). You must submit a final report upon completion of the project to close and archive it on the Romeo system. Once the four-year maximum renewal period has passed, you must submit your final report and a new application for REB review if you plan to continue the project beyond the maximum approval period.
Projects that have been archived for less than six months may be reactivated following the submission of a modification request for a new end date provided that this does not extend the end date beyond four years from the original date of REB clearance. Projects that have been marked as expired for less than six months may be reactivated following the submission of the required annual report with a request to re-activate the file and extend the end date provided that this does not extend the end date beyond four years from the original date of REB clearance. If a project has been marked as archived or expired for six months or more, it cannot be reactivated and a new REB application must be submitted for review and clearance.
Please note that the REB may grant exceptions to this maximum approval period on a case-by-case basis if justification is provided (e.g., requesting an extension due to a leave or COVID-19 related delays or requesting an extension related to a grant extension).
The REB must review and provide clearance for any changes or modifications to projects that relate to the researcher’s dealings with his or her participants before changes are implemented. Examples include adding a new survey, recruiting additional participants, or adding a project team member. Such modifications will be submitted through Romeo.
Modification requests must include a clear and detailed summary of all requested changes. If these changes require revisions to previously approved research materials (e.g., consent form, recruitment ad) then revised copies of these documents must be submitted for review. Any revisions to previously approved documents should be made using track changes (or highlighting or underlining the changes in the document) to facilitate the review process. Modification requests will not be processed until any overdue annual reports have been submitted. Please see the Romeo Quick Reference Guide for instructions on how to submit a modification request.
Researchers are required to report all unanticipated occurrences associated with their research to the REB immediately following their occurrence with an adverse event report. This includes but is not limited to any undesirable experience or response by a study participant (emotional, psychological, or physiological in nature) related to study participation or as a result of the research procedures.
All REB projects require the completion of a final report and projects lasting longer than a year also require the completion of annual report(s). You will receive email reminders that a report is due within 60 and 30 days of the due date and you can also monitor projects that have reports due on Romeo.
Projects with overdue annual/final reports are automatically marked as expired. The REB will notify Research Finance when an REB project, tied to a research account, has been marked expired. In such cases Research Finance will freeze the funds associated with this project.
Once you indicate that the project is inactive (i.e. contact with participants is complete) in an annual/final report, the project will be archived in the Romeo system.
Contact Us:
REB General Inquiries
E:
REB@wlu.ca
Office Location: Alumni Hall
Office Hours:
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.