The Tri-Agency Panel on Research Ethics (PRE) proposed policy guidance released in June 2021 related to harmonized ethics review of multi-jurisdictional research. REBC and UBC (on behalf of the affiliated REBs with the exclusion of BCC) recently submitted their response, which wholeheartedly supports the overall objective of a single REB review for multi-site research, but which also identifies numerous issues with the model that the PRE is proposing. Please feel free to contact laurel.evans@ubc.ca (Laurel Evans | Director, Office of Research Ethics, UBC) or tfleming@bcahsn.ca (Terri Fleming | Director, Research Ethics BC) if you have any comments or questions.
Proposed revisions for harmonized ethics review
REBC and UBC response
[*] Research Ethics BC (REBC) supports a provincial, harmonized system for research ethics reviews of multi-jurisdictional studies involving human subjects (i.e. involving the resources, people, patients or data from more than one BC institution). It’s founded on a collaborative effort by a group of BC health research partners to develop the harmonized ethics review models now in use by most BC health authorities and research universities. To learn more: https://www.bcahsn.ca/our-units/research-ethics-bc.