Research Ethics and Integrity Advisory Committee terms of reference

Preamble

The Office of Research Ethics (ORE) operates under the jurisdiction of the Vice-President, Research and International. The Office of Research Ethics and the Research Ethics and Integrity Advisory Committee (REIAC) is an advisory group responsible to the Vice President, Research and International through the Director, Research Ethics. It does not replace management function of the ORE, nor does it replace the obligations of the two human research ethics boards, i.e., Human Research Ethics Board (HREB) and Clinical Research Ethics Board (CREB), to assess the ethical acceptability of research involving humans. Rather, the REIAC is intended to operate in concert with HREB, CREB and the ORE to provide advice and guidance concerning emerging needs for policy and procedure development, opportunities which exist to streamline or change existing practices, and the impacts of planned operational processes, computer systems and compliance requirements on the research community at Waterloo. This advice and perspective will inform the work of the ORE, HREB and CREB.

Mandate

  1. To work collaboratively with the ORE and the two research ethics board Chairs related to the management of both research ethics and research integrity compliance activities at the University of Waterloo.
  1. To make recommendations to the Vice President, Research and International through the Director, Research Ethics by:
  • Identifying barriers/challenges problems researchers encounter in complying with ethical acceptability and research integrity compliance obligations.
  • Anticipating emerging needs researchers may have for guidelines, training or other tools to improve the effectiveness or efficiency of compliance obligations.
  • Advising on how best to disseminate and communicate research ethics and integrity guidelines, policies and requirements throughout the broader University of Waterloo community.
  • Developing methods to assess the sufficiency of ethics and integrity educational initiatives and existing practices to ensure they fully meet the needs of the broader University of Waterloo community.
  • Identifying emerging and future lines of research which may create future ethical challenges.
  • Pilot testing the functionality of any new ethics computer systems and providing feedback from a researcher perspective.
  •  Providing researcher feedback on the effectiveness of application systems, websites or other communication channels.
  • Providing discipline/departmental level feedback on unique ethics and integrity issues which need to be addressed.

In order to accomplish these objectives, the REIAC will be tasked with:

  1. Making recommendations to the ORE on ethics or integrity issues or concerns facing human researchers.
  1. Providing the ORE and HREB/CREB Chairs with a preliminary sounding board on changes in management and operation of compliance obligations that are being considered (e.g. guidelines, policies, systems, forms, training, computer systems, communication initiatives).
  1. Providing a forum for human researchers, the ORE, CREB and HREB to discuss external regulatory changes, their impact on researchers and the impacts of various options for achieving compliance with ethical and integrity obligations.
  1. Submitting regular reports of its activities to the Vice-President, Research and International.

Membership

  1. Researcher membership will include 10 representatives, at either the faculty or department level, who have been selected to reflect the major areas in which human research occurs. Faculty or departmental representatives may be recommended by the Associate Deans Research. The University of Waterloo Privacy Officer and a representative from the Safety Office and Velocity will also be members. Two student representatives at the graduate level will also be members.
  1. Researcher membership should be representative of the full range of researchers conducting human research at Waterloo (e.g., undergraduate students, graduate students, definite term appointments, indefinite term appointments).
  1. REIAC membership should include 4 ex-officio members drawn from:   the ORE (2), CREB (1) and HREB (1). Consideration should be given to allowing the Vice-chairs of the REBs to participate in the REIAC in order to provide succession plan development for the REBs.
  1. Other University of Waterloo departments with specialized expertise (e.g., the Graduate Studies Office (1), Grants and Awards sections of the Research Office (1), Secretariat, IST) may be invited to attend REIAC meetings on an ad hoc basis in an advisory capacity to provide specialized expertise on specific issues.

Terms of Office

  1. The members of the REIAC are appointed by the Vice-President, Research and International on the recommendation of the Director, Research Ethics, and the respective Department Chairs/School Directors or Faculty Deans after considering the recommendations of the Associate Deans Research.
  1. Each voting member of the REIAC (except ex-officio members from the Office of Research Ethics, HREB and CREB) will serve for a three year term. This term normally is renewed once. 
  1. One indefinite term faculty researcher will be appointed as Chair by the Vice President, Research and International, in consultation with the Director, Research Ethics, from among the members of the REIAC.
  1. Recommendations of the REIAC should be arrived at by consensus. If consensus is not possible, the Chair may elect to conduct a vote

Meetings

  1. Meetings will occur at least once per year or more often as needed.  Business may be conducted electronically and the option of holding a round table meeting to include more users is available. Sharepoint will be used as an electronic communications medium and record repository.
  1. Members and management should forward agenda items to the Chair in writing/electronically in a timely manner before scheduled meetings.
  1. Faculty members will be selected with attention to providing representation for use of specific research methods and research specialty areas.

Administrative Support

  1. Support for meeting schedule and venue will be provided by the Office of Research Ethics. The Chair, supported by the Office of Research Ethics, will be responsible for developing the agenda and scheduling the meetings. The Research Ethics Advisor on behalf of the Director, Research Ethics, shall serve as Secretary.

Approved July 22, 2014; Revised June 21, 2017