The Institutional Review Board (IRB) at SMU is a committee designated to review and approve Social, Behavioural and Educational Research (SBER) involving human participants. The purpose of the review process is to assess potential risks and benefits posed to human subjects who are participating in research studies, so that appropriate steps can be taken to protect their rights and welfare. To ensure that SMU faculty members, staff and students stay current with evolving practices and procedures that are relevant to review and approval protocols, SMU IRB conducts briefing sessions twice yearly for the community.

The first briefing for this year was held on 2 March 2015. During the session, IRB Chairman, Professor Gary Greguras, provided the audience with an overview of IRB, introduced current IRB committee members and spoke about the IRB’s guiding standards. He explained the conditions under which IRB approval was required and also addressed frequently asked questions on IRB matters. One of the questions was whether IRB approval would be required for pilot testing. Professor Greguras highlighted that although the researchers may claim that they would have no intention of publishing the results of pilot testing, the secretariat often saw cases where researchers wanted to publish the findings later in the course of their careers.  Researchers were therefore encouraged to submit IRB applications for pilot testing, and if they were in doubt, to discuss the specific details of the pilot testing with the IRB Secretariat.

Professor Greguras highlighted that effective from 1 July 2014, the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) training was mandatory for researchers submitting IRB applications and all postgraduate research students.  Explaining that CITI training would provide the researchers a fundamental understanding of protecting human subjects in research, he emphasised that the IRB Secretariat would not process applications from researchers who had not completed CITI training. Professor Greguras also said that the SMU IRB would require the course to be completed only once, throughout the duration of the applicants’ career or the students’ study at SMU. The SMU IRB would also accept CITI certification for training completed at other institutions as long as there was completion of the Social, Behavioural and Educational modules.  Faculty members and students who had taken their CITI training at other institutions were advised to check with the SMU IRB Secretariat on the validity of their completion reports.

Established since 2008, the SMU IRB is committed to the upholding of international ethical standards in research. The Board constantly reviews its policies and application procedures to seek improvements and endeavours to keep the community abreast of IRB matters through various platforms. The next IRB briefing session will take place in October 2015. Meanwhile, interested parties can visit the IRB intranet for more information or contact the IRB Secretariat at irb [at] smu.edu.sg for enquiries on IRB matters.

Back to Research@SMU Issue 23