What happens once my protocol is approved?

• Approval
• Request for Variations
• Monitoring Reporting
• Completed Protocols
• Protocol Expiry
• Complaints procedures

Approval

The HREC will notify the primary investigator, and where applicable, supervisors, once approval has been granted. Where there are outstanding matters the HREC will include this in the approval notification. These outstanding matters need to be addressed and provided to the Human Ethics Officer as soon as possible.

Request for Variations

As Research Projects evolve variations to the original protocol can occur. Please notify the Committee of any changes to your protocol in the course of your research, this can be done by submitting a variation request from the Variation tab of your protocol in ARIES.

Please note: Any variation requests to human ethics protocols, received from students at the ANU, MUST have an email/letter of support from the supervisor for the changes. The email/letter should state that the supervisor has read the changes, supports the changes and gives a reason whythe changes are being made.

Variation Request Quick Guide

Monitoring Reports

Under the NHMRC ethical guidelines,the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2007), research projects that have received ethical clearance from the ANU HREC will need to provide a brief report on any ethical issues which may have arisen during the research and whether it proceeded according to the plan outlined in the above protocol.  To minimise disruption to ongoing research activities, the Ethics Office will send a reminder email at regular intervals to submit the report using ARIES.

Monitoring Report Quick Guide

Completed Protocols

When the data collection phase of the research project is completed you need to advise the Office of Research Integrity. You can advise the Office of your completed data collection under the Monitoring tab in ARIES. It is possible to re-open a completed protocol if further data collection is needed. Please contact the Ethics Office in this instance.

Protocol Expiry

The validity of approval for a protocol is five years' maximum from the date of approval. For longer projects you are required to seek advice on whether the protocol can be extended or a new submission is required.

Complaints

The ANU takes every complaint seriously. Once a complaint has been submitted, the HREC will investigate the allegations. Investigations may take up to 6 weeks, If you wish to make a complaint, please contact: