The Research Ethics Committee at ÉTS

The Research Ethics Committee’s Mandate 

The Research Ethics Committee (in French, the Comité d’éthique de la recherche or CÉR) assesses the ethical acceptability of any research projects conducted with human participants and carried out by ÉTS researchers, students and employees, regardless of where the research takes place. To do this, it applies the ÉTS Research Ethics Policy, the Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS2) as well as standards in force in Québec and Canada.

Under the policy, the ÉTS Research Ethics Committee may:

• Conditionally approve a project for which the ethical acceptability is deemed insufficient (recommendations will be issued with a view to correcting the situation);
• Approve unconditionally a project for which the ethical acceptability is considered satisfactory;
• Refuse a project that is not ethically acceptable;
• Terminate a current research project, if it no longer meets fundamental ethical principles.

It is also responsible for:

• Ensuring continuous monitoring of all approved research projects;
• Receiving complaints from participants, when the problem raised cannot be settled directly with the principal investigator (the person in charge of the research);
• Taking adequate measures to deal with conflicts of interest in connection with the research projects evaluated;
• Authorizing the release of research funds.

The CÉR also ensures that research projects carried out using animals or with hazardous biological substances have obtained a Certificate of Compliance before the work begins.

Do You Need Assistance in the Area of Research Ethics?

Do you have questions about your research project and its ethics assessment? The CÉR can help. Whether you’re a faculty member, a researcher or a student, don’t hesitate to contact the Coordinator to discuss your research project and its ethics assessment.

Does your student project require recruiting human participants? You will need to take the ethics training offered by the CÉR’s Coordinator. This training will introduce you to the fundamental ethical principles you will need to respect throughout your research project. 

You can also deepen your knowledge using these online tutorials: 

• Tutorial on the Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS2) from the Inter-Agency Panel on Research Ethics (PRE) 
• Tutorial in Research Ethics from the ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (the Québec ministry in charge of health and social services)