Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ethics Advisors

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Ethics Advisors are academic employees of James Cook University who review ethics applications involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in accordance with National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines Values and Ethics: Guidelines for Ethical Conduct in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research, 2003 and the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research, 2007.

The Advisor can offer advice on a draft of your application in relation to these guidelines and assist you to understand what is required before your application is submitted to the Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) for review. The Advisor provides a recommendation to the HREC on the application. Advisors are also asked to provide advice to the HREC on ethical issues in relation to research conducted with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities.

To ensure your application is processed efficiently please follow the guidelines below.

Review Process for your Application

1. Your application must be submitted to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Ethics Advisors by the closing date to Advisors for the HREC meeting that you wish your application to be submitted. Any application not received by the closing date to Advisors will not be reviewed and held over until the next closing date.

2. When received by the closing date, the Advisor will review your application and provide feedback or confirm that the application is ready to be submitted to the HREC.

3. If changes have to be made to the application, it is best to attend to this quickly to ensure your application is ready in time for submission to the HREC meeting.

4. Once you have made the required changes to your application, you must forward the application back to the Advisor for a final review and sign off. It is recommended to track changes in the application and include the Advisor’s original feedback in the email.

5. Please note that if you have not made all the changes requested by the Advisor, the application will be sent back to you for further changes and it will have to be re-reviewed by the Advisor.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ethics Advisors