Institutional Review Board
Contact:
Ursula Furi-Perry, J.D.
IRB Chair
Email: ursula.furiperry@becker.edu
Phone: 508.373.9533
IRB Overview and Purpose
The Institutional Review Board (IRB) is the entity charged with reviewing, prior to its commencement, all funded and non-funded research involving human subjects conducted under the auspices of Becker College by its faculty members, students, or staff, as well as research by outside investigators using Becker College students, personnel, or facilities.
Research subject to review includes, but is not limited to, pilot studies, class projects aimed for publication, master’s theses, doctoral dissertations, co-supervised work, independent research, senior Capstone projects, and senior theses, whether such research takes place on or off the Becker College campus, including work done outside of the United States.
Becker College’s IRB is registered with, and has an approved Federal Wide Assurance from the Office for Human Research Protections.
Statement of Principles
Becker College assures that all of its activities related to human subjects research, regardless of the source of support, will be guided by the following statement of principles governing the institution in the discharge of its responsibilities for protecting the rights and welfare of human subjects of research conducted at or sponsored by the institution.
- The Belmont Report: https://history.nih.gov/research/downloads/belmont.pdf
The Belmont Report identifies three fundamental ethical principles for all human subject’s research – respect for persons, beneficence, and justice. Those principles remain the basis for the HHS human subject’s protection regulations.
- The Declaration of Helsinki: https://history.nih.gov/research/downloads/helsinki.pdf
The Declaration of Helsinki is a set of ethical principles regarding human experimentation developed for the medical community by the World Medical Association (WMA). The Declaration is an important document in the history of research ethics as it is the first significant effort of the medical community to regulate research itself, and forms the basis of most subsequent documents.
Required Protection of Human Research Participants Training
All investigators, faculty, students, staff, and anyone named as personnel on new or existing non-exempt research projects are required to complete the National Institute of Health (NIH) Protecting Human Research Participants (PHRP) training. This training consists of 7 modules, 4 of which are followed by quizzes. The training is completed online and takes approximately 3 hours to complete: https://phrp.nihtraining.com/users/login.php.
The IRB Review Process
Submission of Request for Human Subjects Research Review
Submit one signed copy of your Request for Approval for Human Subjects Research to the Office of Institutional Research and submit an electronic, PDF version to irb@becker.edu. This includes the following:
- Description of Project and Procedures
- Acknowledgment of Ethical Concerns for Student Researchers or Participant Observers
- Consent Form
- Completion of NIH PRHP training certificate
- IRB Initial Application
| Meeting Date: | Submission Deadline: |
|---|---|
| September 18, 2018 | September 4, 2018 |
| October 9, 2018 | September 25, 2018 |
| November 13, 2018 | October 30, 2018 |
| December 11, 2018 (if needed) | November 27, 2018 |
| January 15, 2019 (if needed) | January 2, 2019 |
| February 12, 2019 | January 29, 2019 |
| March 12, 2019 | February 26, 2019 |
| April 9, 2019 | March 26, 2019 |
IRB Policy and Procedure Manual
Useful Links
- The Belmont Report – Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research
- Declaration of Helsinki – Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects
- World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki
- Nuremberg Code
- Office for Human Research Protections, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services
- Office of Research Integrity, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services
- Protection of Human Subjects, Federal Guidelines
