Philosophy:Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics

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The Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics ("The Panel") was formed in 2001 by three of the research funding agencies of the Government of Canada: CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC ("The Agencies"). The Panel "develops, interprets and implements the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans" (TCPS),[1] as updated in 2014,[2] and the Tri-Agency Framework: Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR Framework),[3] which was updated in 2016,[4] and again in 2021.[5] The Tri-Agency Research Integrity Policy also dictates the conduct of federally-funded researchers.[5] The Panel "is composed of 12 members drawn from across [Canada] to represent a wide spectrum of expertise and experience in the ethics of human research." (HSR)[6]

TCPS

The Panel's main function is to tend to the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS), originally conceived in 2001. This publication was updated in 2010 and again in 2018 to become known as the TCPS2. Because the individual Agencies represent the pinnacle of research success with the best pay in Canada, their statement on ethics is an embodiment of soft power:[7]

Discussions

In May 2018, some epidemiologists at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute were concerned that research ethics boards (REBs) which are typically located at the institution level, were needed to approve human subject research (HSR), but HSR studies were increasingly conducted across many institutions, and this can delay the studies as the approval process requires each named researcher to obtain approval from his or her REB. These particular researchers recommended that a national REB be instituted for researcher convenience.[8]

In September 2018, the McGill University REB was required to approve a study performed in the nation of India because some researchers who were employed at McGill desired to participate in a study of tuberculosis care in that nation, and due to the requirements of the TCPS a waiver of provider informed consent was sought from the McGill REB.[9]

References

  1. "Navigating the Ethics of Human Research". Government of Canada. 2020-02-25. https://ethics.gc.ca/eng/home.html. 
  2. "tri-council policy statement Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans 2014". Secretariat on Responsible Conduct of Research. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada. 2014. https://www.cmcc.ca/Tri-Council%20Policy%20Statement.pdf. 
  3. "TCPS 2 Interpretations - Scope". Panel on Research Ethics. Government of Canada. 2022-06-24. https://ethics.gc.ca/eng/policy-politique_interpretations_scope-portee.html. 
  4. "Tri-Agency Framework: Responsible Conduct of Research (2016)". Panel on Responsible Conduct of Research. Government of Canada. 2021-12-17. https://rcr.ethics.gc.ca/eng/framework-cadre.html. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 "Tri-Agency Framework: Responsible Conduct of Research (2021)". Panel on Responsible Conduct of Research. Government of Canada. 2022-05-18. https://rcr.ethics.gc.ca/eng/framework-cadre-2021.html. 
  6. "About us". Interagency Panel on Research Ethics. 2020-02-06. https://ethics.gc.ca/eng/about_us-propos_de_nous.html. 
  7. "TCPS 2 (2018) – Introduction". Interagency Advisory on Research Ethics. 2017-10-12. https://ethics.gc.ca/eng/tcps2-eptc2_2018_introduction.html. 
  8. Nicholls, Stuart G.; Morin, Karine; Evans, Laurel; Longstaff, Holly (2018). "Call for a pan-Canadian approach to ethics review in Canada". Canadian Medical Association Journal 190 (18): E553–E555. doi:10.1503/cmaj.171088. PMID 29735532. 
  9. Kwan, Ada; Daniels, Benjamin; Saria, Vaibhav; Satyanarayana, Srinath; Subbaraman, Ramnath; McDowell, Andrew; Bergkvist, Sofi; Das, Ranendra K. et al. (2018). "Variations in the quality of tuberculosis care in urban India: A cross-sectional, standardized patient study in two cities". PLOS Medicine 15 (9): e1002653. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002653. PMID 30252849.