Dear students, faculty, and staff,
As Chair of Queen’s University Health Sciences and Affiliated Teaching Hospitals Research Ethics Board (HSREB), I warmly welcome you to research ethics. Research of all types is a rewarding experience for our national and international communities, and many people benefit daily from the innovative developments and extended understanding that research creates.
I would like to confirm the HSREB’s mission to ensure that our research involving human participants follows equity-oriented principles. Further, the Queen’s HSREB shall promote education and ongoing training for all researchers and its REB members, facilitating the review process through guidance and support to the researchers in the submission and review process, and developing and implementing policies and procedures that ensure research compliance with evolving provincial, national, and international guidelines (i.e., the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans). The Queen’s HSREB shall function as an autonomous entity and recognize that all members of the University community share a joint commitment to maintaining research integrity and the highest concern for human dignity, welfare, and justice.
Queen’s University is committed to advancing excellence in research and scholarship. At the core of research excellence is adherence to the highest standards of research integrity. Research integrity means that researchers will conduct and communicate their research honestly and carefully. Researchers must also conduct themselves as professionals, ensuring that standards and policies that guide ethical research are understood and adhered to. Research integrity is expected throughout the research process, from choosing a topic to an endpoint, such as communicating what the research found and the implications of such findings. At Queen’s, research integrity requires adherence to the highest ethical and professional standards and goes beyond merely avoiding misconduct.
At Queen’s, as in other Canadian Universities, the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS 2) is the prevailing Canadian standard for ethical research; Health Canada and PHAC have adopted TCPS to guide the ethical aspects of the design, review and conduct of research involving humans.
The guidelines in the TCPS2 are based on the following core principles: a) Respect for Persons, b) Concern for Welfare, and c) Justice. These principles are complementary and inter-reliant. Of course, how these principles apply, and the weight given to each will depend on the nature and situation of the research being undertaken. The TCPS2 is a joint policy of Canada’s three federal research agencies – the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). TCPS 2 is the foundation for the REB’s operational and guidance documents, which include the Operational Policy Framework, evaluation criteria and requirements for informed consent. Where applicable, the REB also considers relevant federal laws and regulations, such as the Privacy Act and clinical trial regulations. Finally, I want to encourage you to engage in research and the many rewarding and exciting outcomes the process involves. Please visit the HSREB website for all relevant information concerning our ethics board.
Sincerely,
Dean A. Tripp, PhD
Professor & Chair of Queen’s University Health Sciences and Affiliated Teaching Hospitals Research Ethics Board (HSREB)