EPFL is committed to respect for the basic principles of research ethics. The EPFL Human Research Ethics Committee reviews projects conducted by EPFL researchers that involve human participants and/or personal data. These projects do not fall within the scope of the Federal Act on Research with Human Beings (HRA).
HREC at a glance
The EPFL Human Research Ethics Committee reviews projects conducted by EPFL researchers that involve human participants and/or personal data. These projects do not fall within the scope of the Federal Act on Research involving Human Beings (Human Research Act, HRA).
The cantonal ethics committees (CER-VD and CCER ) evaluate projects that fall within the scope of the HRA. The Federal Act applies to projects related to human diseases and the structure and function of the human body and those that involve the use of health-related personal data. If the cantonal ethics committee is competent to review a project, the HREC is not.
The HREC reviews, for example, projects that involve non-invasive experiments, the collection or processing of personal data (privacy issues) and projects that make use of interviews, observations, questionnaires/surveys, tracking of participants, or that make secondary use of information provided for other purposes (e.g. social media sites).
The membership of the Committee is composed of experts in different areas: ethics, legal, medical, information and communication systems, engineering, and social humanities.
More information about the mandate of the HREC can be found in the HREC Bylaws (see LEX 1.3.4 on this page).
Review process
The Committee uses three different review procedures: the standard procedure, the simplified procedure, and the presidential decision. The review procedure depends on the complexity and the risks related to the project. The Committee is not in a position to do a retro-active review of a project.
The HREC review is an on-line process. However, a meeting with the PI can be requested if needed. The entire evaluation takes approximately 5-6 weeks, after submission to the Committee (and if there are no major questions and comments).
HREC applications need to be submitted via the on-line application platform. The application form needs to be completed and submitted to the Research Office/Ethics Affairs (ReO/EA). The ReO/EA is the liaison between the researchers and the HREC during the evaluation process.
Documents (login with your Gaspar account):
-
HREC – Template Research Protocol and Ethical Issues (English)
-
HREC – Consent Form for Research Participants Template (English/French)
- Guidance on how to submit a “general protocol and sub-projects” to HREC (English)
A Data Management Plan needs to be included as part of your HREC submission. For DMP templates, see the Library web-page.
PLEASE NOTE:
Due to the holiday periods during the summer and at the end of the year, the review of applications by the HREC may occasionally take longer than usual. To help ensure that approval can be obtained in time for the planned start of your project, we encourage you to plan your submission in advance, where possible, following the guidance below:
- For projects starting in September, we kindly recommend submitting your HREC application by 30 June at the latest.
- For projects starting in February, we suggest submitting your HREC application by 30 November at the latest.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to the HREC office (email to: [email protected]) if you have any questions or if we can be of assistance in planning your submission. We would be pleased to assist you.
Position Statement on Student Projects
This position statement (available here with your Gaspar account) outlines the ethical and legal aspects of student projects carried out in the framework of EPFL Bachelor and Master curricula.
The statement also clarifies which student projects are eligible to be examined by the HREC.
Position Statement on Education Research
Education research is the scientific study of education and learning processes.
This position statement (available here with your Gaspar account) outlines the ethical and legal requirements for the use of educational data in research conducted by EPFL administrative units and centres.
Use of public data
Social media and web platforms provide an interesting opportunity for researchers to collect publicly available data. However, public data may contain personal data.
This guidance document (available here with your Gaspar account) outlines the legal framework and the data protection requirements to be met for research involving web-based data collection.
Further-use of data
Further-use means the secondary use of already existing personal data for a new research purpose.
This guidance document (available here with your Gaspar account) outlines the applicable legal framework and the compliance requirements to be met for the further-use of personal and sensitive data.