Institutional Review Board (IRB)
Policies and procedures
SUTD’s policy on Research Involving Human Subjects is applicable to all SUTD staff and students directly or indirectly engaged in the design, conduct, supervision and reporting of research involving humans. It aims to achieve the highest ethical standards in all research activity involving human subjects, and to ensure that they are adequately protected according to the core principles of rights, welfare, safety, privacy, and confidentiality of human research subjects.
This policy covers both Social, Behavioural and Educational Research (SBER) and Human Biomedical Research (HBR).
Researchers in SUTD are also to ensure that your research activity is compliant with applicable legislation in Singapore, including but not limited to:
- the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) – Personal information and human biological material collected for research should be kept confidential and stored in a secure environment with restricted access. Individually identifiable information should not be shared with any third party without getting appropriate consent from the human subject.
- the Human Biomedical Research Act (HBRA) – Studies within the scope of HBRA needs to ensure that your research activity are compliant with the additional safeguards required relating to the informed consent procedures, confidentiality of subjects, and the handling of human biological materials.
Please refer to SUTD Central for more detailed guidelines and information (SUTD login required).
Overview of IRB procedures
The table below shows an overview of the procedures under SUTD’s policy framework on research involving human subjects.
| 1. IRB application and review | Minimum training requirements
CITI certification
IRB application Obtain IRB approval prior to commencing any research activity
IRB reviews Select for review under either Exempt, Expedited or Full Board reviews.
Conflict of interest Declare any COI |
| 2. Study conduct and reporting | Informed consent procedure
Inform and get appropriate consent from research participants
Handling and protecting research data Secure confidential data in compliance with PDPA and HBRA
Incident reporting Report protocol deviations, serious adverse events, and unanticipated problems.
Reporting of ethical concerns Ethical concerns reported to whistleblowing@sutd.edu.sg will be handled in strict confidence. |
| 3. Post-approval processes | Study amendments
Submit protocol amendments for approval prior to changes in study conduct
Continuing reviews Annually report status of your approved protocol for Expedited and Full Board studies
Study completions Report completion of studies for closure of the study in the IRB system
Compliance monitoring Proactive monitoring of selected high-risk studies |
Online submission via e-IRB
Submit your applications online via e-IRB. Refer to SUTD Central for the user guide (SUTD login required).
FAQs
Find out more about the Human Biomedical Research Act and related guidance documents on the MOH website.