The Office of Research Ethics, on behalf of Western's Research Ethics Boards (REB), manages the approval and monitoring process for the use of humans in research at the University and its affiliated hospitals and research institutes. All research involving humans conducted by faculty, staff or students at Western or its affiliated hospitals or research institutes must be approved by a Western-sanctioned review board.

Electronic Protocol Submission - Now Available for Non-Medical Research Ethics Board

Starting today, the Non-Medical Research Ethics Board will begin accepting electronic protocol submissions through ROMEO. Hands-on educational sessions are now being offered. These sessions will provide an opportunity to try ROMEO in a test environment. Check our Education page for more information.

New Ethics Website Launched!

The Office of Research Ethics is proud to announce the launch of our new website. This website has many changes including:

• The website information has been re-organized by Board to avoid confusion as each Board has different requirements for review
• A cleaned up top menu has been added to allow you to find information by board
• Each board provides information regarding:
  • Protocol Submission – what you need to know to submit at that review level, including the forms to submit
  • Protocol Maintenance – all the information and forms you may need after your Protocol has been reviewed
  • Tips & Templates – if applicable, we have provided tips and templates to help with your Protocol submission
  • Guidelines – the guidelines for that review level
  • Administrative Information – information on the Board

Protocol Numbering System Change

Attention all Users of Western's Research Ethics Boards. Please note that in order to facilitate our transition to on-line applications we are converting to a new protocol numbering system. Effective immediately future approval notices and all REB correspondence will now reflect your File reference number. In order to ease the transition to this new numbering system we will reference your old REB number at the end of your study title.

For those who use the on-line Serious Adverse Event reporting application we are in the process of converting this system to reflect the new numbering system.

For Health Sciences Full Board users if you would like to request a list of your studies reflecting your new Romeo numbers please contact Becky Ament at bament@uwo.ca and she will provide you with this list.

For Delegated Health Sciences and Non-Medical users if you would like to request a list of your studies reflecting your new Romeo numbers please contact Julie Pfeiffer at jpfeiff@uwo.ca and she will provide you with this list.

As part of our move to this on-line system our website has been redesigned and includes many on-line resources for the Romeo system. Please note that currently the on-line application system is only available for users of the Non-Medical REB.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact Janice Sutherland at jsutherl@uwo.ca, Shantel Walcott at swalcot@uwo.ca or Grace Kelly at grace.kelly@uwo.ca .

Romeo Help Now Available

With the launch of electronic protocol submission through Romeo, the Office of Research Ethics has created a Romeo section on the website. This section provides walk-through manuals, a list of frequently asked questions and other help. If you need additional assistance, please email or call the Romeo helpdesk at ethics-romeo@uwo.ca or 519-661-3059.