Vancouver Island University is committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards in research involving human participants. The VIU Research Ethics Board (REB) oversees behavioral research that involves human participants. Behavioral studies includes those that are social science in nature and/or involve humanities research. Behavioral research may involve interviews, observations, administration of questionnaires, or tests. Research that meets the definition of a clinical trial cannot be reviewed by the VIU REB. VIU and Island Health have signed a Master Clinical Research Ethics Board Institutional Authorization Agreement that enables the Island Health Clinical Research Ethics Board to review medical/clinical research on behalf of VIU. Any VIU researcher planning to conduct medical/clinical research must contact the REB as soon as possible.
The REB meets throughout the academic year to review project proposals for compliance with the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans-TCPS 2 (2022) and institutional policy. REB members represent faculty and staff from a variety of departments who bring extensive research and teaching experience. The Research Ethics Officer (REO) coordinates the activity of the REB and is the primary resource for applicants wishing to conduct research involving human participants.
Got questions about research with human participants?
Harmonized review
Collaborative work between VIU researchers and partners at other BC institutions are reviewed through a harmonized review process. Harmonized review streamlines the ethics review and approval process, allowing for submission of a single ethics application across all partner institutions in BC.
Please visit Research Ethics BC for a complete list of partner institutions and information on how to apply for harmonized review.
To submit an application for harmonized review:
Engaging in research with indigenous communities
VIU is committed to the enhancement of cultural awareness to support reciprocal learning between communities and VIU in our Snuneymuxw, Quw’utsun, ɬaʔamɩn, Snaw-Naw-As and Kwalicum First Nations, and beyond. This includes dedicated focus from VIU’s REB for research led by, and in partnership with, Indigenous researchers and communities.
To inform their review of these research projects, the REB is guided by:
- the BC Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People's Act (DRIPA)
- the principles of OCAP provided by the First Nations Information Governance Centre
- the 94 calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
- TCPS 2 Chapter 9: Research Involving the Frist Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples of Canada.
If you are interested in supporting this culture of reciprocal learning or are considering research that engages with Indigenous peoples or communities, it is important to familiarize yourself with the four resources above. A good place to start is with UBC’s public resource guide:
Resources for Indigenous researchers
If you are considering research in community and are looking for support on campus, you may want to request a meeting with one of our Elders on campus.
Submitting applications for review
All applications for ethical review at VIU, except those requiring harmonized review through Research Ethics BC, are submitted through the ROMEO research portal. All members of the research team must create a ROMEO profile and be listed on the research team. Information on the ROMEO Research portal can be found on the VIU ROMEO webpage.
Submission deadlines
- Minimal risk research proposals can be submitted to the REB at any time. These files are delegated to reviewers with appropriate expertise but do not require full REB review. Minimal Risk proposals may take up to two months to move from submission to approval.
- Research that is ABOVE minimal risk is reviewed by the full board at the next scheduled meeting. Above minimal risk activities may take 4 - 6 months to move through the approval process.
- To facilitate a comprehensive review, applications that require full board review must be submitted two weeks before the next scheduled meeting.
REB meeting dates
September, 23 2026 - submit applications by Sept 9
November 4, 2026 - submit applications by Oct 21
January 25, 2027 - submit applications by Jan 11
March 12, 2027 - submit applications by Feb 26
April 19, 2027 - submit applications by April 5
June 2, 2027 - submit applications by May 19
Required training
All members of the research team that conducts research with human participants must complete the an online research ethics course based on the TCPS called the TCPS-2: Core-2022. Upon completion, the certificate must be provided to the REB to be added to the researcher's ROMEO profile.
REB resources
VIU Policies & Associated Procedures:
To facilitate compliance the TCPS-2, the VIU REB has adopted the suite of standard operating procedures developed by Canadian Association of Research Ethics Boards (CAREB) in collaboration with Networks 2 Networks, and have adapted them to provide a guidance framework for VIU researchers:
VIU REB Standard Operating Procedures
Access to these guidelines is only available to members of the VIU community. If you cannot access the link and would like a copy of these SOPs, please email reb@viu.ca.
The REB creates and maintains guidance documents to help VIU applicants design their studies in compliance with regulations:
Access to these guidelines is only available to members of the VIU community. If you cannot access the link would like a copy of these guidelines, please email reb@viu.ca.