Guidelines

• The primary reason for seeking ethics approval is to ensure that the rights, safety, and well-being of all participants are protected. This is particular important for those participants who are vulnerable such as children, prisoners, pregnant women, mentally disabled, or economically or educationally disadvantaged persons.
• Ethics approval is also a legal requirement for all research involving human participants. Studies involving the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research must not proceed without the approval of both the IMR Institutional Review Board and the Medical Research Advisory Committee

What Requires Ethics Approval

Any research involving contact with human participants including:

• Clinical research
• Field research
• Use of human samples
• Research involving data collection by interviews, questionnaires, focus groups observation
• Informal conversations with people where systematic research data is collected
• Research involving accessing medical or other records not normally available to the public

Research is defined as any systematic investigation designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge.

Human participant is defined as any individual about whom an investigator obtains either data through interaction or intervention with the individual, or identifiable private information.

Steps to Follow

1. Determine whether your research requires ethics approval.
2. Ensure your protocol/proposal contains all of the information required by the IMR Institutional Review Board and Medical Research Advisory Committee.
3. Complete the IMR Institutional Review Board Pro Forma.
4. Submit your protocol/proposal together with the IMR Institutional Review Board Pro Forma electronically to imrirb@pngimr.org.pg or alternatively by post to:
   IMR Institutional Review Board
   Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research
   PO Box 60
   Goroka, EHP 441
   Papua New Guinea
   
   
5. IMR IRB will automatically forward approved protocols to the MRAC. You do not need to submit any additional paperwork.

IMR Institutional Review Board

• Terms of reference

• Members

• Meeting schedules

• Protocol amendments

• Protocol approval

• Protocol content list

• Study reports

• Reporting Severe Adverse Events

Contact

Dr William Pomat
IRB Secretary