Important information on Research Ethics related to the SCRP COVID-19 grant
Posted on: May 19, 2020
The Office of Research Services has been happily surprised by the support and engagement from Faculty Members in relation to our Special Call for Research Projects COVID-19 grant (SCRP COVID-19). Applications will be sent out for adjudication as soon as possible, and results should be available in early June. Once the awards have been adjudicated, funding will be retroactive to May 15th, 2020.
A number of proposals that were received include activities that require Research Ethics Board (REB) approval. The REB is a standing GFC committee at CUE and is not part of the Office of Research Services (ORS).
It is important to remind you that research with participants cannot be carried out without a valid approval from the REB that covers the project’s activities. Also, funding will not be released for REB approval-requiring awards until a copy of such approval has been provided to the ORS.
The REB will meet in June, and the deadline for submission of applications for approval is June 5th. We know that some conditions under study will dissipate soon, which puts pressure on researchers to start their activities as soon as possible.
The ORS encourages all applicants who submitted projects under the SCRP COVID-19 call, that include the recruitment of participants (surveys, interviews, sample collection, etc.) to submit applications to the REB by their June deadline, so that the research activities can start as soon as the REB approval and a SCRP COVID-19 award are both in place. You do not have to wait for the results from the SCRP COVID-19 competition to apply for REB approval.