Research Involving Two or More Institutions (Multi-Jurisdictional Research)

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When collaborating with researchers from other institutions, keep in mind the following:

  1. UA REB approval only applies to you and your work, not to your collaborators/co-investigators or their activities.
  2. Similarly, your co-investigator's ethics approval only applies to them and their activities.
  3. Human participant studies involving researchers from multiple institutions may require approval from the REB of each institution.

What is Multi-jurisdictional Research

Contemporary research often involves collaborative partnerships among researchers from multiple institutions or countries. It may call upon the participation of a number of local populations and involve multiple institutions and/or multiple research ethics boards (REBs).

Examples of multi-jurisdictional research include projects conducted by teams from different institutions, combining data from independent projects, or involving data collection at multiple institutions. Here are some examples:

  • Local researcher is part of a supervisory committee for graduate student at another university.
  • Local researcher contributes to authorship of a publication where contributions to the research were limited to intellectual property contributions, study design or manuscript preparation.
  • Local researcher has multiple institutional affiliations and therefore would need to get ethics at each institution where they hold an appointment.
  • Local researcher receives data/samples from participants enrolled at another site, local activities limited to data/sample analysis.
  • Collaborating with researchers from other Institutions where all researchers are conducting the study at their own site and data will be pooled for analysis and publication.

Streamlined Process - for minimal risk multijurisdictional research

To streamline REB review of research that is conducted by researchers at several institutions (multi-jurisdictional research), we have made some changes to the requirements for University of Alberta (UA) REB review, in line with recent updates to the TCPS2 (2022).

Read our guidance document for more information on these categories of minimal risk ethics applications that may be eligible for a streamlined REB review in accordance with Chapter 8 of the TCPS2.

Category A

Ethics approval already in place at the external PI and/or collaborator’s home Institution AND;

  • External (non-UA) researcher wishes to have local institutional staff/resources distribute their survey OR;
  • Local researcher is not receiving funding, not collecting data/samples, and/or not receiving data/samples for analysis

Streamlined Process

  1. These types of projects are not submitted in the ARISE online ethics system. Instead researchers must complete and submit them using our Category A Application. Note: you will be required to upload the REB approval certificate from the “lead site” as part of the Category A application.
  2. Category A approval will be sent via email (not in the ARISE system).
  3. Approval by the UA REB for post-approval activities (i.e., renewals and amendments) is not required unless the local researcher’s contribution to the project changes.

Category B

Ethics approval already in place at the collaborator’s home Institution AND;

Local researcher may be receiving funding, may be collecting data/samples and/or may be receiving data and/or samples for analysis, however, there can be no local active in-person recruitment to qualify as a Category B.

Streamlined Process

  1. An ARISE application must be created.
  2. Following this guidance to fill out only minimal sections of the ARISE application. The sections of the application to be populated include; information about local site activities that may differ from the approved lead site, local data receipt and storage of data, survey platform being used to collect the data, etc.
  3. Approval will be sent via the ARISE system.
  4. Post-approval activities (i.e., renewals and amendments) need to be submitted by the local researcher.

Category C

Ethics approval already in place at the collaborator’s home Institution AND;

Local researcher enrolling participants and/or project does not fall into Category A or B and/or project is above minimal risk.

Streamlined Process

  1. A full application in ARISE must be created and submitted.
  2. The REB will take into account the prior ethical review by the lead REB, and will review for local site specific conditions, however the normal REB review processes will be followed (i.e., send to a delegated approver or Full Board at the discretion of the REB).
  3. Post approval activities (i.e., renewals and amendments) will be required to be submitted to the UA REB.

REB Exchange

If you are conducting research with another researcher at the following institutions, the REB Exchange may be able to streamline your REB reviews:

  • University of Calgary
  • University of Lethbridge
  • Research conducted by physicians in private practice within Alberta and approved through the Health Research Ethics Board of Alberta
  • (coming soon - University of British Columbia)

For more information on whether REBX can be used for your study, please contact reoffice@ualberta.ca.

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