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The Australasian Human Research Ethics Consultancy Services (AHRECS) team brings extensive experience and expertise to support your research ethics needs. We have collaborated with research ethics committees, regulatory bodies, and professional organisations across Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam, ensuring compliance with international standards, including US OHRPP and ORI requirements.
Our team combines a deep theoretical understanding with a practical knowledge of regulatory frameworks. With over 20 years of collective experience, our senior consultants excel in implementing best practices in research ethics training, systems, and reforms. By partnering with AHRECS, you gain access to trusted advisors who can help you navigate complex requirements, enhance your systems, and ensure ethical excellence in your research practices.
Latest blog entries
Inclusion of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse populations in Clinical Trials:
Nik Zeps AHRECS Consultant Clinical trials have enormous value to society as they provide the most robust means of working out whether or not particular treatments used to improve the health of our population work or not. Governments have a stated objective to increase participation in clinical trials based upon a series of assumptions that…
A preliminary geneaology of research ethics review and Māori
Lindsey Te Ata o Tu MacDonald AHRECS, Consultant In New Zealand, we have two separate drivers for change in research ethics for working with Māori. The first are the institutional responses to the legal requirements of government institutions to accord justice to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi (see Te Puni Kokiri, 2001).…
It’s the hand you’re dealt: Copyright card games and publishing board games are in!
Nerida Quatermass | University Copyright Officer | Project Manager, Creative Commons Australia at Queensland University of Technology As a university copyright officer, I provide copyright information for research and scholarly communication – from ethics applications to publication. What’s up, Doc? Copyright questions can often be a manifestation of a larger issue than copyright. For example,…
Advances in Medicine often require innovation in ethical thinking too
Nik Zeps and Tanya Symons AHRECS Consultant Breakthroughs in medicine often highlight the existing limitations of the frameworks established to manage the ethical responsibilities arising in healthcare. The contraceptive pill, organ transplantation, assisted reproductive technology, gene therapy and more recently gene editing are notable examples that have stimulated major debates and, in several instances, prompted…
Question for Research Ethics Monthly readers: Win for your institution a new 12-month subscription to https://www.ahrecs.vip
Prof. Mark Israel and Dr Gary Allen We would like to encourage institutions to try out the ahrecs.vip set of resources. We also would like to crowdsource additional material and request the help of members of the research ethics community of practice. People like you. So, if you would like an opportunity to win a…
A users perspective on the ethics application process in Australia-room for improvement
Suat Chin Ng. MBBS, BMedSc, FRACS. Department of Surgery, Eastern Health, Melbourne, Australia. Wei Ming Ong MBBS Department of Surgery, Eastern Health, Melbourne, Australia. Shane Belvedere MBBS Department of Surgery, Melbourne Health, Melbourne, Australia Creski Gilong. MBBS Department of Surgery, Austin Health, Melbourne, Australia. Dr Nikolajs Zeps. BSc, PhD Research and Development, Epworth HealthCare, Melbourne,…
Conversations with an HREC: A Researcher’s perspective
Dr Ann-Maree Vallence and Dr Hakuei Fujiyama College of Science, Health, Engineering and Education, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia http://profiles.murdoch.edu.au/myprofile/ann-maree-vallence/ http://profiles.murdoch.edu.au/myprofile/hakuei-fujiyama/ In our careers to date, we have had many formal conversations with members of HRECs across different institutions regarding human research ethics applications and amendments. We have also had many informal conversations with members of…
The Ethics and Politics of Qualitative Data Sharing
Mark Israel (AHRECS and Murdoch University) and Farida Fozdar (The University of Western Australia). There is considerable momentum behind the argument that public data is a national asset and should be made more easily available for research purposes. In introducing the Data Sharing and Release Legislative Reforms Discussion Paper in September 2019, the Australian Commonwealth…
Lost time may never be found again but is it time to talk about the duration of ethics approvals?
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose” a time to report on ethical conduct, a time to renew an approval, or a time to face misconduct proceedings. Dr Gary Allen What is the length of ethics approvals that your HREC grants? In this article, I will discuss this question and…
Plain English communications and the PICF – and beyond
Bob Milstein See below For many of us, preparing the Participant Information and Consent Form (PICF) for a research project is an irksome, time-consuming and unexciting “hoop-jumping” task. Albeit, essential. Indeed, the National Statement shows how essential the PICF task is. In particular, the Statement’s guiding principle for researchers is that: “… a person’s decision…
Endometriosis, women’s health and the ‘hysteria myth’
Kate Young, Research Fellow, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University Profile | Kate.Young@monash.edu.au This post originally appeared on Monash Lens Endometriosis is finally a hot topic. We’re hearing more and more women’s stories of having their pain dismissed by loved ones and doctors. Stories of lives being derailed by debilitating symptoms. And…
Research ethics review during a time of pandemic
Gary Allen, Mark Israel and Colin Thomson COVID-19 is prompting changes to academic delivery, essentially intended to contain the spread of the virus and protect the most vulnerable from its effects. As more countries introduce travel restrictions and mandate self-isolation, it will no doubt change the way we conduct research. Research ethics review needs to…
Working flexibly through the Coronavirus: Continuing professional development in research integrity or human research ethics?
Research ethics and research integrity professional development works best as a long-term commitment to building the capacity of the current and next generation of researchers. As universities extend their online capacity to educate coursework students in the face of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and place restrictions on staff travel, there is little reason to close down…
Towards a code of conduct for ethical post-disaster research
JC Gaillard School of Environment, The University of Auckland, New Zealand Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, South Africa Profile | jc.gaillard@auckland.ac.nz Lori Peek Department of Sociology and Natural Hazards Center, University of Colorado Boulder, USA Profile | Lori.Peek@colorado.edu . We recently called for a code of conduct in disaster research. This call…
Can I use your answers anyway?
Dr Gary Allen AHRECS Senior Consultant Many national frameworks for human research ethics, such as the National Statement (2007 updated 2018) in Australia have respect as a core principle. An essential component of respect is obtaining the prior consent of potential participants. The role of consent in ethical research can be traced back through the…
COVID 19, human research and human research ethics review
Prof. Colin Thomson AM AHRECS Senior Consultant We at AHRECS, like all our friends, colleagues and clients, are becoming more and more aware of the immediate and probably long-lasting impact of this pandemic on almost every part of our lives. It has compelled researchers to vary methodologies adopted for both ongoing and planned human research.…
AHRECS and COVID-19
To date, we are delighted to report the extended team is virus-free. Our best wishes go out to any member of the Human Research Ethics/Research Integrity community who are currently battling the awful pandemic. To the first responders, clinical staff on the frontlines and researchers working on a vaccine, thank you for your service. Like…
Advice Puzzle Showing Guidance, Support And Information Why autism research needs more input from autistic people
Elle Loughran Student, Trinity College Dublin Elle Loughran is a Laidlaw scholar studying genetics at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland This post first appeared in Spectrum, the leading site for autism research news. I am a student and researcher studying evolutionary genetics, and I am autistic. I often come across papers on autism research, but…
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