FAQs
Yes, Wellesley College will maintain their FWA, but will cede reviews to Brandeis, so we wouldn’t have a registered IRB Committee.
Wellesley College has one Wellesley College faculty or researcher who is a member of the Brandeis IRB Committee, as well as one or two alternate members.
The Brandeis IRB administrators will assign expedited and full committee reviews to any member of the Brandeis IRB Committee who has the disciplinary and methodological expertise to conduct a proper review. Exempt reviews will be conducted by Brandeis’ HHRP staff, following IRB regulations.
You can contact the Brandeis IRB office (part of the Human Research Protection Program - HRPP) by email or phone.
Brandeis is always available to answer any questions. You can contact the Brandeis IRB office (part of HRPP) by email or phone.
Student theses or projects that involve interviews or other data collection with living human beings require IRB review because they are made publicly available through our library and may contribute to generalizable knowledge. All IRB reviews go through Brandeis. Please see the Brandeis IRB page for details on student researchers.
The Brandeis IRB website will give you guidance on what student research requires IRB review. You can also email irb@brandeis.edu to ask for clarification about your specific work or for help completing forms. If your research that does not require IRB review, your advisor for the research is responsible for training you in ethical research and would review proper procedures as part of that training. Some departments can also require an ethics review (not the same thing as an IRB review) of student research.
You will use the online forms found on the Brandeis Forms and Instruction webpage. The forms are completed online. They do not have to be completed in one go; you can save your work, return to it, copy and paste from/to it, and submit it at any time.
Brandeis IRB conducts reviews at monthly meetings of the IRB Committee. See the Brandeis IRB website for schedules and deadlines. Expedited and exempt reviews are conducted on a rolling basis.