In this terrific and thoughtful post, Colin Thomson AM, a Senior Adviser to AHRECS, reflects on what we mean when we talk about expertise i the context of Human Research Ethics Review.

Do we mean expertise in ethics, research ethics or ethics review or a combination?

Do they fit together seamlessly and easily or is there an incongruence?

He frames these matters, when talking about research ethics committee members and research ethics reviewers across ten important categories.

He then suggests ten tests that could be usefully applied to evaluate the quality of review feedback.

How your institution’s research ethics committee and its review feedback fare if judged against this criteria?

Is it time they had some professional development? Does the Committee’s standard operating procedures need to be updated?

This is a valuable read for research ethics committee Chairs, Secretaries and members.