Human Subjects in Research
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Ethical Review of Research Involving Humans
ORIA is responsible for Mason’s program for promoting excellence in all aspects of research with humans. A fundamental principle of ORIA’s program is that all research with human subjects must be reviewed prior to a project’s initiation. Ethical review of projects will either be conducted by ORIA staff or members of the Institutional Review Board (IRB). The IRB is a committee composed of faculty, staff, and community members who are trained in issues related to protecting human participants in research. ORIA also collaborates with other institutional review units on campus such as the the Institutional Biosafety Committee and the Radiation Safety Committee to further achieve ORIA’s primary goal of assuring that the rights and welfare of human research subjects in activities conducted at and/or under the auspices of George Mason University are adequately protected.
Note: All researchers must receive written approval from ORIA prior to conducting a research project involving human subjects.
ORIA is responsible for:
- Policy and procedure development
- Triage and review of GMU research projects involving human subjects
- Institutional Review Board (IRB) support
- Ethics training
Getting Started:
- All human subjects related forms (including applications, continuing review forms, and amendment forms) must be submitted through our online protocol management system, IRBNet. More details can be found here
- Review our FAQ page
- Review our IRB Order of Operations Flowchart
- Review our policies and procedures
- Fill out an application form
- If relevant, review the research in schools page
- If you have any questions or to make an appointment with IRB staff for assistance, please e-mail irb@gmu.edu
Last updated 3/18/2020