Mission Statement
The mission of the Notre Dame College Institutional Review Board (IRB) is to protect the rights and welfare of research participants. The primary responsibility of the IRB is to review proposed and continuing research involving human subjects for the purpose of minimizing risk to participants, ensuring informed consent, protecting vulnerable populations, and protecting participant privacy.
These safeguards are based upon the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Title 45, Part 46 and the ethical principles articulated in the Belmont Report issued by the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research in 1979.
Overview
The Notre Dame College IRB reviews human subject research conducted by Notre Dame College faculty, staff and students; research in which Notre Dame College faculty, staff and students are research participants; and research that is conducted by external researchers on Notre Dame College’s premises.
Ethical Principles of the Belmont Report:
Respect for Persons: Recognition of the personal dignity and autonomy of individuals and special protection of those persons with diminished autonomy or particular vulnerabilities, including prisoners, children, those who are mentally or cognitively disabled, pregnant women, or economically or educationally disadvantaged persons. Human subjects should enter into research voluntarily and with adequate information about the research project and the potential consequences of participation in the study.
Beneficence: The obligation to protect persons from harm by maximizing anticipated benefits and minimizing possible risks. Possible risks to human subjects should be weighed against possible benefits to the subjects, as well as against the possible improvement of knowledge.
Justice: Fairness in the distribution of research benefits and burdens. In selecting human subjects for research, investigators should ensure that no group of participants is either consistently selected to participate in research, or consistently deprived of the opportunity to do so.
The primary responsibility of the IRB is to review proposed and continuing research for the purpose of minimizing risks to participants, ensuring informed consent, protecting vulnerable populations, and protecting participant’s privacy.
The Notre Dame College IRB reviews human subject research conducted by Notre Dame College faculty, staff and students; research in which Notre Dame College faculty, staff or students are research participants; and research that is conducted by external researchers on Notre Dame College’s premises.
Office for Human Research Protections, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services
Institutional Review Board
For questions, contact the Institutional Review Board via irb@ndc.edu