Applications, Deadlines & Timelines

This page provides quick information about deadlines and how to apply for ethics review. If this is your first ethics application, or if you need further details on the full review process, please see our Human Ethics Review Process page.

Student deadlines

Athabasca University students may apply for ethics review at any time. Applications will be processed according to established timelines.

Faculty/staff deadlines

Applications from AU faculty and staff must be submitted by the first Friday of each month. These applications will be reviewed at the regular monthly Research Ethics Board (REB) meeting, and a decision will be provided within one week of the meeting.

Note: There will be no REB meeting in August. If you plan for your study to begin in August or September, your application must be submitted by the first Friday in July.

How to apply

All ethics applications are completed and submitted online through the Research Portal. Please review the applicable instructions below before beginning the application process:

Make sure you include all the necessary information, including related appendices, or your application may be returned.

If you have difficulties with your application, please contact the Research Ethics Officer.

Timelines for Student Researcher Applications

In order to process your application as quickly as possible, review of student applications includes both an informal and a formal review. The goal is to complete the formal review within 4 weeks of submission.

Informal review

The Research Ethics Board office or your departmental research coordinator may provide informal feedback during the administrative processing of your application. This feedback is designed to increase your chances of approval in the formal review.

As this feedback occurs before your application is sent to the ethics committee, the time spent on review and resubmission is not counted as part of the formal review timeline.

Formal review

For an average review with no major concerns or uncontrollable delays, the first formal review should take approximately 2 weeks to complete.

If your application requires further revision, the goal is to provide final approval within 4 weeks of your initial submission to the committee. This timeline depends on how long it takes to submit the suggested revisions.

How to submit revisions to your application

Updated December 17, 2020 by Research (research@athabascau.ca)