Institutional Review Board
The Institutional Review Board (IRB) is responsible for the protection of human participants in research conducted by faculty, staff and students at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania (SRU). All members of the SRU community who engage in activities that are classified as research involving human participants must submit their research proposals to the IRB for review and approval prior to the beginning the research. The IRB assures compliance with Federal and state regulations and SRU policies.
The primary goal of the IRB is the protection of human research participants. The board does not endorse the quality of the research and approval does not absolve researchers from the responsibility to monitor and maintain the project within their professional guidelines. The ultimate responsibility for the ethical conduct of research remains with the researchers.
All applications and forms should be emailed to irb@sru.edu or delivered to the IRB Office at, 302 Old Main. Questions? Contact the IRB Office.
**NEW**
Class Assignments & Irb Procedures - Effective December 15, 2021
Quality Improvement vs. Human Subjects Research - to help determine if your project is Quality Improvement or Human Subjects Research
Revised Common Rule: 45 CFR 46 - EFFECTIVE JANUARY 21, 2019
The Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP) has changed the federal regulations that protect the rights and welfare of human participants, known as the Common Rule. The Common Rule changes seek to modernize, strengthen and make more effective the federal policies for the protection of human research participants. The Common Rule changes will be effective January 21, 2019 and will be applied to any study approved on or after January 21, 2019.
New forms have been developed to comply with the Revised Common Rule. Protocols submitted on the previous forms will be returned without review. Please continue to monitor this website for additional information.
Explore the Revised Common Rule page to find out how this affects researchers at SRU.