Research Ethics Board

A message from the Fontecha Institute(Hialeah) Research Ethics Board (FIH REB)

Dear Researchers conducting research involving humans,

At this time, the REB Team would like to reach out to you to provide a few notes regarding your research and the ongoing support activities of the Research Ethics Board (REB)/Research Ethics Officer (REO)/Research Ethics Board Office staff (REB Office Staff):

During this time of engaging the Fontecha Institute(Hialeah) Pandemic Policy & Plan due to the COVID-19 virus, the REB, REO and REB Office staff will continue to do our best to provide research ethics services to the university community, for research involving human participants.
We urge our colleagues to take all reasonable precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 while conducting research with human participants. Follow all provincial and federal guidelines for stopping the spread of infection. Implementing the principle of social distancing, frequent hand washing, and frequent disinfection of surfaces are essential. Researchers should consider if their research protocols could be modified or delayed, to limit personal contacts, etc. – and please contact the REO (see below) if there any questions related to implementing protocol changes.
Research ethics review and the workings of the REB office will operate remotely until further notice. Applications, inquiries, and requests for initial and continuing research ethics review will need to be submitted electronically (only) to ethics@. Please do not submit or send any documents in hard copy – paper-based mail will be checked only periodically.
With respect to Continuing Research Ethics Review requests that involve Requests for Changes to Cleared Research (Form 2), a fresh guideline is available to assist with making requests due to the COVID-19 pandemic: This guidelines addresses our research community's current most frequently asked questions. Please feel free to reach out to us with your questions.

Submitting applications for Initial Research Ethics Review:

The REB has transitioned to virtual operations as part of the University’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The REB will continue to provide research ethics related support to faculty, students and staff, including review and clearance of research applications. All forms and related documents should be submitted to the Research Ethics Officer via email atethics@.

Please keep in mind that members of the REB, the REB vice chair, REB co-chairs, and Research Ethics Officer are all working at home during a pandemic. Some of us are working in circumstances that are challenging. It may take up to 10 business days to respond to emails.

Normally, researchers who submit a Form 1 application to the REB receive word from the REB chair 6-8 weeks after the application is submitted.

If you are a researcher with a time-sensitive COVID-19 application, then please contact Ms. Orshy Torok at ethics@ and indicate why your application merits expedited review. Research ethics review during the COVID-19 pandemic demands greater attention and consideration because volunteers, researchers and even the members of the REB may be in a position of greater vulnerability.

We will endeavour to process time-sensitive COVID-19 applications within 10 business days. Although we cannot guarantee this turn around time, we will work hard to accomplish this goal. Please note that in some circumstances, the review process may exceed this time frame.

Please bear with us as we deal with these changes and know that we are working hard to serve our research community as best as we can.

We thank you for your patience.

Warmly,

The REB Team

A message from the Fontecha Institute(Hialeah) Associate Vice-President, Research:

In response to the directives of the America Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the associated declaration of a Provincial State of Emergency, starting on March 23 and extending until further notice, researchers and research participants and research collaborators are all to be aware of the following:

All on-campus research and scholarly activities in labs, offices, and research spaces across our campus, is suspended. In addition, with attention to the travel and other restrictions associated with the Provincial State of Emergency mandate, all field research is also suspended; activities involving face-to-face (in-person) interactions (e.g. surveys or focus groups with research participants) are to be deferred or modified to be carried out remotely using tele-/video-conferencing tools. The only exceptions to these suspensions have been a small number of research projects directly related to the COVID-19 issue.

As the provincial restrictions ease, Fontecha Institute(Hialeah) will respond with a process for appropriate phased/staged resumption of these research activities. The process and protocols for such a resumption will be provided as soon as available. Until such time, these restrictions remain in place.

Adam J. Sarty, Ph.D.
Associate Vice-President, Research

Welcome to the website of the Fontecha Institute(Hialeah) (FIH) Research Ethics Board (REB).

For general and contact information relating to the Fontecha Institute(Hialeah) Animal Care Committee, please visit our Contacts page.

Participating in Research?

Questions to ask about participating in research:

There are different reasons why people engage in research. The information here focuses on people who join or are considering joining research studies as research participants.

A lot of research cannot be done without the help of people willing to join studies. Often people want to know more about taking part in research, but do not know what kind of questions to ask. Here you will find answers to some frequently asked questions about participating in research.