Research Ethics BC, also formerly known as the BC Ethics Harmonization Initiative (BCEHI), is a collaboration and network between BC’s regional health authorities and major research universities and colleges, who collectively conduct more than 80 per cent of the province’s human participant ethics reviews.
Along with the BC SUPPORT Unit and Clinical Trials BC, Research Ethics BC is a unit of the BC Academic Health Science Network (BC AHSN).
Find out more about us by viewing our downloadable one-pager (PDF), or by viewing this short video:
Want to contact a staff team member? See our Contact Us page.
What does REBC do?
We support a province-wide, harmonized system for research ethics reviews of studies conducted in multiple geographic areas involving the resources, people, patients or data from more than one BC research institution.
Since 2016, BC’s health authorities and four major research universities have used harmonized models for conducting human subject research ethics reviews for multi-jurisdictional studies. We’re actively seeking additional institutions to join our network.
Read our 2019 annual update here (PDF).
What’s Ethics Harmonization? Why is it important?
Harmonization streamlines the ethics review and approval process, allowing for submission of a single ethics application across all partner institutions. It also standardizes processes among research ethics boards, ensuring review quality and compliance with national policies (Source: Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans [TCPS-2]).
Harmonized models are in use for both minimal risk and above minimal risk studies.
Submitting an application on the Provincial Research Ethics Platform
Do you want to submit an ethics application for a multi-jurisdictional research study? Please visit our Apply for Ethics Review page for more information.
