Human Research Ethics

This site provides information on applying to Human Research Ethics Committees at the Victorian Department of Health and elsewhere.

Research may be conducted at one (single-site) or more sites (multi-site). In Victoria, a centralised system for single ethical review of multi-site clinical trials has been established, details of which can be found on the Consultative Council for Human Research Ethics website. Single-site ethical review of non-clinical research remains unchanged.

For information about applying to the Department of Health Human Research Ethics Committee, see DH HREC.

The following definitions are for your guidance when deciding how to apply for Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) review of a research project.

• A research site is defined as the location of an Institution where human research is conducted and requiring ethical review by a Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC).
• A single-site study is conducted by one investigator or one group of investigators according to a single protocol at one study site. For more information, see Single-site research.
• A multi-site study is conducted by several investigators according to a single protocol at more than one study site. For more information see Multi-site research.

Interstate Mutual Acceptance

Mutual acceptance for multi-centre clinical trials commenced on Monday 24 October 2011 for Queensland and Victoria. NSW commenced mutual acceptance from 1 February 2012.

A national initiative to harmonise ethical review of multi-centre research is being developed by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Harmonisation of Multi-centre Ethical Review (HoMER).