Institutional Review Board for Human Participants

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News & Announcements

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• News from the IRB Office:

• The IRB has approved a preliminary policy for the use of social media and mobile technologies in their research with human participants. The intent of this preliminary policy is to serve as guidance to map out the evolving ethical considerations for research with new media/technologies, and to help investigators understand the type of information the IRB may need in reviewing research applications. We welcome feedback from researchers on any improvements or clarifications we can make in it. Please send your comments to ma354@cornell.edu.

  Click here for the Guidance for the Use of Social Networking Sites or Mobile Devices for Human Participant Research (also on the IRB Policy page at www.irb.cornell.edu/policy).

• Archived Newsletters

Cornell University operates a Human Research Protection Program to protect the rights and welfare of individuals who volunteer to participate in the research mission of the University. While the ultimate responsibility for the treatment of all human participants in research rests with the individual researcher (faculty, students, or staff) who has been given the privilege to conduct research with humans, the Institutional Review Boards exist as a safeguard to promote the ethical and responsible treatment of human participants in research, by conducting scientific and ethical review of research studies while providing education and guidance for the research community.

Cornell University operates its Human Research Protection Program under two separate Federal Wide Assurances (FWA) filed with the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS): one for the upstate campus principally located in Ithaca (FWA 00004513) and a separate FWA for the Weill Cornell Medical College principally located in New York City (FWA 0000952).

University policy requires that all research that involves human participants, regardless of the source of financial support, must be reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) before it can be initiated. Guiding this review process by the IRB is the application of federal and state laws and various ethical principles, particularly those articulated in the Belmont Report: (1) Respect for Persons, (2) Beneficence, and (3) Justice.