Who should submit an application?
The Ethics Committee considers applications relating to research that may affect the health and well-being of Aboriginal people and communities.
The project should involve research in, or concerning, New South Wales. Where projects also involve research outside New South Wales, an ethics application must also be made to the relevant Aboriginal HREC(s) in the other states and territories.
An application should be made for research for which any one of the following applies:
- The experience of Aboriginal people is an explicit focus of all or part of the research;
- Data collection is explicitly directed at Aboriginal peoples;
- Aboriginal peoples, as a group, are to be examined in the results;
- The information has an impact on one or more Aboriginal communities;
- Aboriginal health funds are a source of funding.
The above criteria is endorsed by the NSW Ministry of Health Office of Health and Medical Research and can be found under the NSW Ministry of Health Policy Directive PD2010_055.
Desirable and Additional Criteria
The Committee advises an application should be made if your project meets any of the below criteria:
- Any of the five factors listed above are present; or
- The Aboriginal experience of the medical condition being studied is known, or is likely, to be different from the overall population; or
- There are Aboriginal people who use the services being studied in distinctive ways, or who have distinctive barriers that limit their access to the services; or
- Aboriginal people are known, or likely, to be significantly over-represented in the group being studied (compared to the 3.4% of total NSW population) and/or it is proposed to separately identify data relating to Aboriginal people at any stage in the project.
What is the process of submitting an ethics application?
You can submit an ethics application using these four easy steps:
- Use our guidelines, templates and statements when preparing an application. (Templates are optional, the Guidelines are compulsory).
- Ensure that you have Aboriginal Governance over your project, this should be independent from the research team. It may come in the form of an Aboriginal Reference Group and/or ACCHS Support.
- Have you prepared all research tools, data collection plans, letters of support, agreements, terms of reference? Further information may be found in the AH&MRC Ethical Guidelines: Key Principles 2020.
- Begin the application process by clicking ‘login’ below.
Please note: You may start and submit an application at any point, however, your application will not be delegated for review until the closing date. Please take your time when developing an application to ensure that in the initial instance, it is of a high quality and has adequate Aboriginal Governance throughout the lifespan of the project.
How often are applications reviewed?
The Ethics Committee currently meets every six (6) weeks to review applications.
Applications submitted before the application deadline will be considered in the corresponding meeting. Applications submitted after the closing deadline will be considered in the following meeting.
All applications must be received by 11:59pm on the closing date. For any questions or enquiries, reach out to the Ethics team at ethics@ahmrc.org.au
