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Ethics

Human Ethics Advisory Group Health (HEAG-H)

It is compulsory for all staff and students submitting a full ethics application for the first time at Deakin (either DUHREC or HEAG) to complete human research ethics training. Once training is completed, you must take the quiz on CloudDeakin to obtain your email confirming completion. This can then be submitted with your application. If you have already been listed as a researcher on a successful application submitted at Deakin University, you are exempt from this requirement.

Who requires ethics approval?

Research projects from or at Deakin involving human participants (surveys, interviews, experiments, exercises, etc) require prior ethics approval from the DUHREC or HEAG. Some research may be exempt from review if it is negligible risk research or involves the use of existing collections of data/records that contain only non-identifiable data about human beings. In these cases, an application for ethics exemption must be submitted to the DUHREC.

What if I'm doing a joint/multi-site project?

There is a particular process for projects that have been approved by another organisation – please refer to research integrity for more information.
For projects requiring approval by multiple human research ethics committees, please contact the human research ethics office.

What projects are eligible for HEAG-H review?

  • All student low risk research projects from the Faculty of Health may be submitted to the HEAG-H for ethics review.
  • Projects are not eligible to be reviewed by HEAG-H if they have been or are to be reviewed by another Australian Human Research Ethics Committee. These projects must be sent to DUHREC.
  • Any project with a higher than low level of risk must be submitted to the DUHREC for review.
  • Projects that may be exempted from review must have an ‘exemption from ethics review’ form submitted to the DUHREC.

How do I know if my project is low risk?

It is the responsibility of the researcher to assess the level of risk associated with their own project. You may need to refer to the national statement.

What are the possible outcomes of HEAG-H review?

The HEAG-H may grant approval, request amendments or request resubmission of low risk research proposals.

After risk assessment, if the HEAG-H believes that the project is not low risk, the researchers will be notified and asked to submit their application to DUHREC for ethics review. Please note that DUHREC require ethics applications to be submitted on the HREA (Human Research Ethics Application) system.

After approval, what then?

Once ethics approval (or exemption) is granted, research is authorised to commence.

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