Ethics approvals
Camosun believes in maintaining the highest of ethical standards in the research conducted at the college. We take this responsibility very seriously, and have established an ethics approval process based on nationally recognized standards. This process is managed by the Research Ethics Board (REB) under the guidance of Camosun’s Policy.
Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Human Subjects (pdf)
All academic research projects undertaken by Camosun staff must obtain ethics approval. Application form for ethics approval (Word doc)
The college supports a proportionate approach to ethics review. This means that project proposals that present minimal risk to research subjects will undergo an expedited review, and projects that can potentially present greater than minimal risk will undergo a more rigorous review.
Ethics approval is granted for a one year period. At the end of this time, principal investigators are required to complete and submit the Notification of Project Completion form or an Application for Renewal form should an extension of ethics approval be required. Application form: Notification of Project Completion or Application for renewal of previously approved project. (pdf)
Requesting access to Camosun’s faculty or student population
If you are carrying out a research project, with Camosun or with another institution, and you would like to request access to Camosun’s faculty or student population for your research… please download the Access-Request form (pdf). Please submit this form with an outline of your research and your ethics approval certificate/form and submit to Camsoun’s Centre for Applied Research & Innovation.
Research Ethics Board (REB)
The REB consists of college and community members and its mandate is to:
- Advise the college about any ethical issues that may arise from research,
- Advise the researcher about ways to minimize risk and apply ethical research procedures to their research,
- Educate the college community about ethical issues and proper, ethical practices while conducting research,
- Provide a certificate of Approval (and dictate ongoing ethics monitoring) for all research projects that involve human subjects.
Note: All academic research projects undertaken by Camosun staff must obtain ethics approval. You can expect a full review if your project uses questionnaires, interviews, behaviour observation, use of non-public information about people or anything else that involves people in any capacity.
Scheduled meetings of the Camosun Research Ethics Board
Last Friday in:
- January
- March
- May (first week) policy meeting
- June
- September
- November
Attention instructors and chairs: Student research
Student research (including regular classroom projects) that in any way involves the gathering of information from human subjects is also subject to review. Department Chairs can approve the ethical conduct of student research if they feel that the research poses minimal risk. And must pass review on to the REB if they feel the research may pose greater than minimal risk. Department Chairs are responsible for the ethical conduct of the courses taught within their department. We must ensure our students are aware of ethical issues, and we must conduct our class research in an ethical manner. To learn more about minimal risk contact the REB.
