External Ethics Approval Established in Australia
UNSW staff, students, and researchers: If ethics approval has been obtained from an NHMRC-registered Australian HREC for a human research project, no additional approval is required. However, if the Australian ethical review body does not cover research being conducted overseas, an application to a UNSW HREC/HREAP will need to be submitted. If approval is obtained from an external ethical review body, UNSW staff and research students are required to register the external approval via iRECS.
Non-UNSW staff, students, and researchers conducting research at UNSW will need to set up an external account in iRECS (if they do not have a UNSW affiliated account) and submit the external ethics approval, including a letter of support from the faculty or head of school confirming their agreement for the research to proceed.
External Ethics Approval Established Overseas
If ethics approval with an international review board/ethics committee has been established, additional UNSW human ethics approval is not required if:
- Participants within Australia will not be recruited.
- UNSW will not be responsible for the conduct of the research at an Australian site.
- A UNSW researcher, staff member, or student will not be responsible for fieldwork, recruitment, or data collection overseas.
UNSW staff and research students must register the external approval if they are participating in the research. This step is not required if their activity is not considered research or if they are providing mentoring/training services.
Submission Requirements
To register your external ethics, follow the iRECS External Ethics Approval Registration Instructions.