Human Research and Ethics Committee

All research projects undertaken at Epworth HealthCare require prior approval from the Epworth Human Research and Ethics Committee (HREC).

The HREC is formed under the auspices of the National Health and Medical Research Council who provide leadership and advice regarding research governance in Australia.

Epworth's HREC meets monthly to consider applications for research projects from investigators at Epworth HealthCare. As well as considering a written application with extensive documentation, the HREC also receives a verbal presentation from the Principal Investigator, the committee has the opportunity to ask questions regarding the proposed project.

This enables a fast response time to research applications leading to faster approval times. Once a project is considered by the HREC, the recommendation for approval or not is sent to the Board of Management for final ratification.

In order to deal with the increasing number of projects being submitted for HREC approval, a Low and Negligible Risk Subcommittee has recently been established to deal with simple and low-risk studies that can be processed without the full HREC documentation and committee consideration. This will particularly assist with the rapid processing of Quality Assurance projects.

The current Chairman of the HREC is Professor Reverend Norman Young, who is also a member of the Epworth Board of Management.

Making an Application

Information for researchers wishing to make submissions to the Epworth HealthCare Human Research and Ethics Committee is contained within the following documents:

Making a HREC Application - Victorian Government Website

Low Risk Applications

Guidelines and an application form for Ethical Review of Quality Assurance, Negligible Risk and Low Risk Projects are available below.

Application Guidelines

Please download the Guidelines, Checklist and Application forms above to assist you with your submission.

The final application form must be typewritten on A4 size paper. Please provide one original application which must be signed along with nineteen (19) copies that should be sent to the following address, 21 days prior to the meeting:

HREC Coordinator
Human Research Ethics Committee
Epworth HealthCare
Pelaco Building One
21-31 Goodwood Street
RICHMOND VIC 3121

• Please do not staple or bind any papers included in your submission – each set of documents can be separated by a sheet of A4 coloured paper, clipped with a bulldog clip or held together with a rubber band. Please do not separate sections within the document
• Hole-punched and double sided copies
• Email the HREC Coordinator a copy of the following documents:
  - Copy of Application Form e.g. NEAF or DHS Modules (Converted pdf or MS Word format)
  - Copy of the Submission Letter (MS Word format only)

For further information regarding HREC Submission Guidelines refer to the pdf document HREC Submission Guidelines – Full Ethical Review & Low Risk Studies (2011) available to download above.

It is essential that at least one of the Researchers be available to speak to the Committee at the monthly meeting, preferably the Chief Investigator.

The Committee cannot recommend submissions where no researcher is available to speak about the protocol.

Enquiries
Kay Foley
HREC Coordinator
Epworth HealthCare
03 9426 8806
kay.foley@epworth.org.au

Further Information

A list of additional websites with useful information for researchers wishing to make submissions to the Epworth HealthCare Human Research and Ethics Committee can be downloaded below.