Institutional Review Board and Human Research Protection Program at Bates College

The Bates College Institutional Review Board (IRB) has been established to approve research projects involving the use of human participants (or source-identifiable biospecimens from human participants). The IRB exists both because Bates wants to ensure that research participants are treated with the utmost respect and safety and because federal law requires that all federally funded research involving human participants receive IRB approval. The research projects concerned include not only standard research but in-class research and community-based research (CBR) projects as well, and extend to journals and photographs, video, and tape recordings of participants. Please note that the IRB cannot issue approval for research already conducted.

To see whether you need to submit a proposal to the IRB start here. Be aware that:

(1) Some types of exempt research nonetheless require a limited review of the procedures for ensuring confidentiality. You can determine what type of review is required by clicking on the Start Here link above.

(2) ALL investigators who conduct research with human subjects are required to complete research ethics training. This is true even for projects that are exempt from IRB review.