Welcome to ResearchNow Ethics and Biosafety at Flinders University
(Please press 'Ethics & Biosafety Applications' or 'Work Area' in the top heading to enter your Work Area to start an application or view your already existing applications)
This online portal is used for:
All Human Ethics Applications and Exemption Forms
All Animal Ethics Applications and Online Training
All Biosafety Applications
Research Integrity Advice / Breach Form (coming soon)
All new forms are created by selecting 'Create Project' on the left hand side menu and selecting the required form from the drop down menu.
Once created, each form will have additional instructions on the first page specific to that form.
See below to find the right form if you are unsure of the form to use and submit
Human Ethics Applications
All Greater Risk and Lower Risk applications are submitted on the same 'HREC Application Form'. The risk level will be determined by the selections you make in the form and further review in the office.
If you have ethics approval from another HREC, you can submit a 'HREC Cross Institutional Application Form' to record your HREC approval here at the University.
If you are unsure if you need ethics approval, you can complete the 'HREC Exemption Application Form' to determine if your project is exempt from ethics review. If so, you can be provided with an exemption letter based on your responses.
You can use the 'HREC Teaching & Learning Application Form' to submit an overarching application for the evaluation of multiple teaching activities at the University for research purposes. These projects must be Lower Risk. If your College already has this form approved, you need to submit a sub-form for your particular project (see sub-forms below) and contact the original project owner to gain access.
Additionally, if you need to submit an annual report, adverse event or modification request, please submit a sub-form (see sub-forms below).
Please note that clinical trials or research projects involving SA Health premises, staff and patients must be approved by an SA Health Human Research Ethics Committee, not the Flinders University HREC.
Animal Ethics Applications
Animal ethics applications for research projects or teaching are submitted on either the 'AEC Biological Application Form' or the 'AEC Biomedical Application Form', depending on where your animals will be held / your affiliated College. The forms are very similar, but the Biological form will ask more questions about permits, capture and wildlife and is used more often by the College of Science and Engineering.
Before you can work with animals for research or teaching, you need to undertake the mandatory 'AE Online Training' course. This must be undertaken every three years. Once you complete the course, the Research Ethics, Integrity and Compliance Office will create an 'AEC Competency Skills Form'. You will not be able to see this form in the drop down menu, but when you have one created for you, it will be in your work area, and will have your name as the title.
If you are doing animal work that does not need full AEC approval (scavenging tissue, observing animals with no interaction, data mining already available animal data) you can submit an 'Animal Ethics Register Application'.
If you need to submit an annual report, unexpected adverse event, modification or extension request please submit a sub-form (see sub-forms below).
Biosafety Applications
Select the 'Biosafety - NLRD Form' if your research or teaching project involves Notifiable Low Risk Dealings (NLRDs) and Exempt Dealings directly associated with an NLRD.
Complete the 'Biosafety - Microbiological Dealing (non-GMO) Application' form if you are applying to use risk group 2 or higher microorganisms for teaching or research purposes.
If your dealing is Exempt, complete the 'Biosafety - Exempt Dealing Form'.
If you are unsure of the form to use, please see the decision flowchart for assistance.
Sub-forms
Sub-forms are forms that link to an already approved project.
Human Ethics and Animal Ethics applications have the following sub-forms - Annual and Final Reports, Modification Requests and Unexpected Adverse Events.
There are currently no sub-forms for Biosafety applications.
To create a sub-form, click on your approved project, select 'Create Sub-Form' from the left hand side menu and select the sub-form from the drop down menu on the pop-up.
Annual Report Forms are used to report yearly on your Human and Animal Ethics project.
Modification Request Forms are used to notify the office that your application form needs to be opened for changes to be made.
Unexpected Adverse Event Forms are used to report an issue that was not expected in your approved project.
In addition, the 'AE Extension Request Form' can be submitted to request an extension to your project expiry date.
The 'HE Teaching & Learning Sub-Form' can only be submitted by a researcher who wishes to create a sub-project under the 'HE Teaching & Learning Application Form' overarching project, to evaluate teaching in their College.
If you still require more assistance regarding the correct form to use, if you can not see your project on your Work Area or any other ResearchNow Ethics and Biosafety issues, please contact the Research Ethics, Integrity and Compliance Office below:
Human Ethics: 8201 2543 or 8201 2255 and human.researchethics@flinders.edu.au
Animal Ethics: 8201 2255 and animal.welfare@flinders.edu.au
Biosafety: 8201 3436 and ibcadmin@flinders.edu.au