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Human Subjects in Research

The Brandeis Committee for Protection of Human Subjects (BCPHS) is the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Brandeis University. As such, it is charged with reviewing all research involving human subjects conducted at Brandeis University or by a member of the Brandeis community, regardless of the funding source, to ensure that the research meets with federal, state, local, and institutional regulations. Such research must be reviewed by the IRB prior to its beginning. Brandeis' IRB does not grant retrospective IRB approval.

Our IRB is dedicated to the ethical principles outlined in the Belmont Report:

Respect treating individuals as autonomous agents and protecting persons with diminished autonomy. This means that research participants voluntarily consent to participate in research, that informed consent is obtained, that their privacy and confidentiality are protected, and that they have the right to withdraw from research participation without penalty.
Beneficence doing to others what you would have them do to you. This means that the risks of research are justified by the potential benefits to the individual or society, the study is designed so that risks to participants are minimized, and conflicts of interest are managed adequately.
Justice distributing the risks and potential benefits of research equally among those who may benefit from the research. This means that vulnerable populations are not targeted for convenience and people who are likely to benefit from research participation are not systematically excluded.

Our IRB follows the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) regulations at 45 CFR Part 46, which constitute the Federal Policy, also known as the Common Rule, for the protection of human subjects in research. These regulations are enforced by the DHHS through the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP).

Every institution that receives funding from DHHS must have an Assurance of protection for human subjects. Brandeis University operates under Federalwide Assurance #FWA00004408 (exp. 3/28/2017), and our IRB is registered under #IRB00000562 (exp. 9/27/2015).

To learn more about human subjects in research and the IRB at Brandeis and to find out how to submit an application for review, please navigate the IRB webpage using the links below.

This page was last modified on October 05, 2012