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• Ethical Review Process
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It is a requirement of Charles Sturt University, like all other Australian universities and research organisations, that all research that involves human participants must be conducted in accordance with the National Statement on the Ethical Conduct in Human Research.

Proposals for research, which involves human participants and/or materials, require approval from the Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) or for minimal risk research the appropriate School.

The role of the CSU HREC is to consider ethical implications of all proposed human research projects that are considered more than low risk conducted by University staff or students and to determine whether or not they are acceptable on ethical grounds. The Committee bases all their comments, requests for clarification or further information, on the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Research Involving Humans, issued by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

The Committee is committed to the highest standard of integrity in research and acknowledges the value of advancing knowledge by research and aims to ensure that the rights of individual participants of the research are protected at all times.

The Committee reviews each research project according to the following issues:

• Research Merit and Integrity
• Justice
• Beneficence
• Respect for human beings.

Do I need human ethics approval?

Research undertaken by staff or students that collects data directly from or about human beings usually requires ethics approval before the research can commence.

This includes:

Questionnaires or surveys

• Structured Interviews
• Unstructured interviews
• Questionnaires and Scales
• Evaluation of classroom learning for research purposes
• Photographic and video records of individuals
• Observations

Experimentation that involves human participants

• Clinical, laboratory or classroom measurements
• Clinical or laboratory testing or experimentation using human tissue
• Counseling and group therapy trials
• Psychological intervention or testing
• Administration of therapeutic substances
• Surgical intervention
• Medical research

Exceptions

• Evaluation activities carried out in the normal course of education such as student feedback surveys, audits and quality reviews
• Research projects that involve investigation using only publicly available records
• For advice on this issue, contact the Executive Officer Human Research Ethics Committee. (insert hyperlink to email address: ethics@csu.edu.au)