Institutional Review Board (IRB)

The SUTD Institutional Review Board (SUTD-IRB) was established on 1st October 2012. Our main objective is to protect the rights and welfare of human research subjects in research activities conducted by SUTD students and researchers.

This is an independent committee constituted of scientific and non-scientific members, whose responsibility is to ensure the protection of the rights, safety, and well-being of human subjects involved in a research study. The committee reviews and approves research studies that involve human subjects as well as provide continuing review of research studies, including protocol amendments.

The SUTD-IRB reviews social, behavioural and educational research and human biomedical research. Different guidelines and forms apply depending on whether the research is Human Biomedical Research (HBR) or Social, Behavioural and Educational Research (SBER).

Singapore has enacted the Human Biomedical Research Act (HBRA) to regulate human biomedical research and the handling of human tissues for use in research. This came into effect on 1 Nov 2017. For more information on MOH Guidelines on HBRA - please click here.

The SUTD-IRB has been updating its policies and forms in view of the Human Biomedical Research Act (HBRA), which regulates human biomedical research (HBR), and is currently being implemented in phases by MOH.

SUTD-IRB has agreed to cooperate and enable cross-recognition of each other's ethics review, thereby eliminating dual reviews of the same research protocol. SUTD-PIs who have obtained other IRB approvals are required to notify and submit your approval letter to SUTD-IRB. SUTD-IRB will issue a letter of notification stating that the application has been approved by other IRBs and no review is required by SUTD-IRB based on the mutual recognition agreement.