Romeo Research Portal
Romeo is Laurier's online application system for Research Ethics Board (REB) review. It must be used for approval of all Laurier research projects when supervisors will be using their data.
Romeo:
- Allows you to track your application as it moves through the review process.
- Provides access to all your approved files for future reference.
- Allows you to submit annual reports, modification requests and adverse event reports.
Undergraduate students doing minimal risk research who supervisor(s) will not be using their data do not generally have to use Romeo. Instead, they should go through their departmental ethics review process.
Our quick guide provides you with the information you need to use Romeo:
- Register for Romeo
- Password selection and reset
- Add team members to a project
- Submit a project for REB review
- Approved project processes:
- Modification request
- Annual/final report
- Adverse event report
- Upload attachment
- Changes to principal investigator (PI)
- Unlock project
- Access copies of REB emails
Register for Romeo
To register for Romeo:
- Go to Romeo.
- Select Register. (Select Click here for guide in the top left corner of the registration page for registration guidelines).
- Complete the following information in the appropriate fields:
- Laurier email
- first and last name
- select your institution
- select your departmental affiliation(s), ensuring that you check “Primary Affiliation.” If your faculty is not separated into departments, select your faculty.
- all other fields are optional, and we request that you do not provide your personal address(es) or phone number(s) – these fields can be left blank
- Select Register.
- If you see “Error: User with same Email-ID already exists,” you already have an account. Go back to the Romeo login page and follow instructions to reset your password, if needed.
- Follow the instructions in the email to complete your first-time registration process.
- Open the link.
- Enter your confirmation code.
- Enter a password and confirm it.
- Select Confirm.
Password
Selection
Passwords must meet the following minimum requirements:
- eight to 16 characters in length
- one uppercase letter (A-Z)
- one lowercase letter (a-z)
- one number (0-9)
Reset Password
If you have forgotten your password:
- Go to Romeo.
- Enter your username in the form of an email, most likely your Laurier email address.
- Select Reset Password.
- Follow the instructions in the email.
- Open the link.
- Enter your confirmation code.
- Enter a password and confirm it.
- Select Confirm.
- Follow the password minimum requirements.
If you do not receive an email or experience any issues resetting your password, contact the REB.
Add Team Members to a Project
Learn how to add team members to your research project before and after REB clearance.
All project team members added to the project will be able to view or edit the application under “Role: Project Team Member” on their Romeo homepage.
- Go to Application Drafts.
- Find the application you want to add project team members to and select Edit.
- Select Project Team Info under “Other Project Member Info.”
- Select Add New.
- Type the first and last name of the individual you want to add to the application and select Search Profiles.
- Do not hand type data for this section.
- Select select beside the individual that you want to add to the project.
- Select their “Role in Project” from the dropdown menu (i.e., Co-Investigator, Student or Supervisor), then select Save.
If your project has undergone review and received REB clearance and you'd like to add a new project team member, you must submit a modification request.
The modification request should indicate the project team members' name, role in the project, and indicate whether they require Romeo access. You must attach their TCPS 2 CORE certificate.
Submit a Project for REB Review
- Select Apply New from the home screen. Make sure you select the appropriate type of application for your purposes.
- Complete the required information under each tab. Make sure you select Save often as you work on your application:
- Project Info: Captures information on the project title, start and end dates, and keywords.
- Project Team Info:
- Principal Investigator: Use this to identify yourself as the PI on the project.
- Other Project Members: Use the Add/Edit button to search for the name(s) of co-investigators or faculty supervisors you wish to add to the project.
- Request for ethics review: Contains several different sections regarding specific aspects of the REB review process.
- Attachments: Attach additional documents related to your project (e.g., TCPS 2 certificates, consent letters, questionnaires, surveys, recruitment posters, etc.).
- You can save your project and return later to complete it.
- To forward your completed application to the REB, select Submit.
Track Status of Project
Track the status of the project(s) you have submitted as the PI on your homepage under “Role: Principal Investigator” or “Role: Project Team Member," depending on your role in the project.
Requests for Additional Information
Updates and requests for additional information from the REB will be sent to your email account as your project moves through the review process. Check your email account regularly.
All approved projects are on your Romeo home screen either under Role: Principal Investigator, if you are the principal investigator, or Role: Project Team Member, if you are a co-investigator or supervisor.
- 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 and underlining the changes in the document) to facilitate the review process.
To submit a modification request to an approved project:
- Find the approved REB project you wish to modify.
- Go to “Applications (Submitted – Post Review)” for a listing of all your current and approved projects.
- Press Events, next to the title of your project.
- Select Request for Ethics Clearance of a Revision or Modification form under the “New Event Forms” listing.
- Complete all applicable tabs.
- You can save this form to work on later or submit it to forward it to the REB for review and clearance.
All REB projects require the completion of a final report. Projects longer than a year also require the completion of an annual report.
The form is on your Romeo home screen either under Role: Principal Investigator, if you are the principal investigator, or Role: Project Team Member, if you are a co-investigator or supervisor.
- Go to Reminders.
- The Reminders link only appears if you have a pending annual or final report due within 30 days.
- If you are submitting a report 30+ days in advance (e.g., project is ending, and you are submitting a final report in advance of the current end date).
- Go to Applications Post-Review.
- Press Events, next to the title of your project.
- Select Annual (or Final) Report for Approved Human Research Projects under the “New Event Forms” listing.
- Complete the tabs within the form.
- Either save the form to work on it later or Submit to forward it to REB for review and clearance.
All approved projects are on your Romeo home screen either under Role: Principal Investigator, if you are the principal investigator, or Role: Project Team Member, if you are a co-investigator or supervisor.
- Find the approved REB project you wish to modify.
- Go to “Applications (Submitted – Post Review)” for a listing of all your current and approved projects.
- Press Events, next to the title of your project.
- Select Adverse Event Report under the “New Event Forms.”
- Complete all applicable tabs.
- You can save this form to work on later or submit it to forward it to the REB for review and clearance.
Upload an Attachment
The maximum individual attachment size is 5MB. All attachments larger than 5MB will stall the system, and your data may be lost. However, you may upload multiple attachments, provided that each is no larger than 5MB.
- Go to Attachments.
- Select Add Attachment.
If you have trouble uploading an attachment, try the following:
- Check that your file is not larger than 5MB.
- Save and close the application.
- Log out of your current Romeo session.
- Exit your current web browser session and re-open a new session or try a new web browser.
If you are still experiencing issues after trying the recommendations, contact the REB.
Changes to Principal Investigator (PI)
Prior to Approval
If a student generates a new Romeo application, they will be defaulted to the PI. The student can draft the application but will need to change the PI to their supervisor for their review and approval before submitting to the REB.
To change the PI to the supervisor, please follow the below instructions:
- Navigate to the Project Team Info tab of your application.
- Click “Change PI” in the top left corner of the tab.
- Search for a full time or contract teaching faculty member or staff member.
- Click Select next to their name.
If a Romeo application is submitted with a student listed as the PI, the application will be returned for revisions.
Alternatively, a supervisor can generate the application in ROMEO and add the student as a student co-investigator or principal student investigator so that the student can fill out the remainder of the application. The final approved version must be reviewed, approved, and submitted by the PI (supervisor) in order to be reviewed by the REB. This new process will also remove the requirement of students having to submit a screenshot of their supervisor’s approval with every new application.
After Approval
The PI on a REB project cannot be changed after REB clearance is granted. Take this into consideration prior to submitting a project for REB review.
Unlock Project
Although multiple users can view one REB project simultaneously, only one user can edit a Romeo project at any given time.
While the project is being edited, Romeo locks the project to other users. Once the user saves and closes the project, the project unlocks and is accessible to other users for additional edits.
If a project is appearing as locked by another user, make sure that all other project team members are not currently working on the project and have saved and closed the project.
If the project still appears locked after logging out and logging back in, contact the REB.
Access Copies of REB Emails
Emails are more recent feature available on Romeo. If you have an older Romeo file, older emails may not be visible. If you require a copy of an email that is not visible, contact the REB.
- Locate the file by either using the search function or going to "Applications: Post Review."
- Select View.
- Go to the Logs.
- Select Shared Communications. This is where copies of all REB emails including memos and clearance notifications are available.
- Locate the email (e.g., REB #XXXX Clearance Notification).
- Select Preview (magnifying glass and plus sign).
- Select Print, then save as pdf.