In 1998, the 3 major research funding councils to universities (SSHRC, NSERC, MRC/CIHR) introduced the Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS) on research with human subjects. The Tri-Council went on to state that universities were required to comply with the TCPS if they wished to continue receiving research funds from them. The ultimate purpose of research ethics procedures is to protect all participants in the research, including the researcher. In addition to ethics review, the TCPS also requires that all research studies must be subjected to a scholarly review.

In the fall of 1999, the Queen's University response was to put its new ethics review process in place, through the creation of a university-wide General Research Ethics Board (GREB), and a series of unit Research Ethics Boards (unit REBs). The Education Research Ethics Board (EREB) is the unit REB for the Faculty of Education. Through the GREB and EREB, Faculty of Education ethics submissions go through an ethics review process.

EREB is a service committee within the Faculty of Education that assists faculty and students (both undergraduate and graduate) in preparing ethics submissions for GREB review. EREB plays an enabling role by facilitating the pursuit of our research work in an ethical and timely manner. Submissions are reviewed in light of the TCPS2 "guiding ethical principles" which are:

• respect for human dignity,
• respect for free and informed consent,
• respect for vulnerable persons,
• respect for privacy and confidentiality,
• respect for justice and inclusiveness, and
• balancing harms and benefits.

The role of EREB is not to question research traditions but rather to ensure that the research is able to meet its intended outcome in a manner that reduces and minimizes the risk to both the researcher(s) and the participants.

In order to comply with the TCPS2 (article 1.5) and GREB policies, EREB conducts the scholarly review at the same time as it conducts the ethical review. For studies that have been reviewed and approved by other external agencies, for example SSHRC, the scholarly review completed by that agency fulfils this requirement. In addition to reviewing submissions, EREB answers questions about research ethics, suggests changes to a study in order to address ethics issues, and makes presentations to B.Ed. and graduate students about research ethics.

Although every effort has been made to ensure accurate information on this website, please keep in mind that ethics policies are constantly being revised by GREB and at the national level.

The Education Research Ethics Board (EREB) committee for 2017/2018 is as follows:

• Ben Bolden, Chair
• Erin Rennie, Secretary
• Leena Yahia, Graduate Student
• Ann Marie Hill, Faculty Member
• Newsha Ghafari, Graduate Student

How to log into Queen's Ethics Romeo system: http://www.queensu.ca/urs/ethics/general-research-ethics-board-greb/human-ethics-e-application-system

• General Research Ethics Board (GREB) 
• Examples of Letters of Information/Consent Forms/Scripts/Agreements
• Course on Research Ethics (CORE) (Required for all submissions - please include certificate as an attachment)
• Off-Campus Activity Safety Policy Planning Record (Required for international research)
• Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS): Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (Government of Canada)
• Open Access, Data Sharing and Archiving: What it Means for Researchers
• Guidance on Completing and reviewing the new GREB Standard Application Form

The following documents must be uploaded to ROMEO/TRAQ under the attachments section in order to complete your application:

• Email or letter from supervisor indicating application is ready for review by EREB/GREB (for student applications only)
• LOI/Consent Form
• Supporting Materials (Recruitment scripts, surveys, interviews, protocols, etc.)
• CORE Certificate (for student applications only)

Sample LOI's and consent forms are also on the GREB website.

If you are a student seeking EREB review, please pay attention to the EREB submission date.

If you are a faculty member submitting directly to GREB, you may submit your application anytime.  EREB and GREB submission/meeting dates are for reference only.

Erin Rennie, Secretary, (A101C) must receive ethics review submissions by 4:30 pm on the submission date to ensure inclusion on the agenda for the next EREB meeting.

Further to the Bi-Annual Ethics Update from the General Research Ethics Board circulated December 17, 2015, the new GREB - Instructor Course-Based Research Assignment Application form has been turned on as active in ROMEO/TRAQ.

This form is to be used only by Instructors who wish to oversee the conduct of course-based student research assignments, in accordance with the Students Course-Based Research Assignment Guidelines (available on the GREB website, under "Course-Based Research".

Please note that applications by instructors for course-based research assignments that have already been submitted and approved using the General Research Ethics Board Application Form for Ethics Clearance will be grandfathered into the system, and those instructors will not be required to re-apply using the new form.  However, all new applications for course-based research assignments must be submitted on the new application form. 

Instructors can access the new form following the same steps as the standard form, i.e. Log-in to Research Portal, click on "APPLY NEW", "New Application Forms" and use the form "GREB - Instructor Course-Based Research Assignment Application".