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Institutional Review Board

Upholding Ethical Standards

The Western New England University Institutional Review Board (IRB) is responsible for reviewing all human subjects research conducted on campus (or by university researchers off-campus). The purpose of this board is to ensure the protection and ethical treatment of all participants taking part in university-related research.

The University has developed a distributed IRB structure in an effort to expedite this process. While higher risk studies are still reviewed by the full board, minimal risk studies can be submitted to the appropriate intake representative (see below). These board members will conduct all exempt and expedited reviews (with the exception of research conducted by investigators not affiliated with the University, which are handled by the Chair). Submissions for full board review must be received at least TEN DAYS prior to the scheduled meeting date (see below). University intake representatives will forward any studies requiring full board review to the Chair for further communication. All other applications can be submitted for review at any time. Applications will be reviewed as promptly as possible, in the order in which they were received.

Online training is required prior to IRB application approval to meet federal requirements for training researchers using human subjects. Online training is offered through the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) Program. The program has been customized to educate researchers regarding activity specific to their domains (i.e., Biomedical vs. Social-Behavioral-Educational). Training must be renewed every three years and certificates of completion can be accessed through the CITI website. Please attach a copy of your CITI certification along with your IRB application. If you already have CITI certification through another institution, you may attach that instead. For instructions on how to access training, please visit the FAQ section. Any further questions regarding training can be directed to the IRB chair.

University Intake Representatives

College of Arts & Sciences:
Dr. Tamara Shattuck, Assistant Professor of Education, tamara.shattuck@wne.edu

College of Business:
Dr. Janelle Goodnight, Professor of Marketing, janelle.goodnight@wne.edu

College of Engineering:
Dr. Steven Li, Assoc. Professor of Industrial Engineering & Engineering Management, zhaojun.li@wne.edu

College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences:
Dr. Minna Levine, Adjunct Faculty, minna.levine@wne.edu

Applied Behavior Analysis Programs:
Dr. Richard Graff, Assistant to the IRB Chair, Clinical Adjunct Faculty member for Applied Behavior Analysis programs, richard.graff@wne.edu

IRB Chair:
Dr. Jessica Carlson, Professor of Psychology, jcarlson@wne.edu

*Please note: during the summer months, all applications not originating within the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences or Applied Behavior Analysis programs should be directed to the IRB Chair.

Application Form

(The application form is an editable PDF file accessible to Adobe Readers 6.0 and more recent versions. It may be downloaded, edited, saved for later printing or revision, and emailed to the the IRB Chair when completed.)

Full Board Meeting Dates/Times for Academic Year 2023-2024

Submissions for full board review are due TEN DAYS prior to scheduled meeting dates, which are as follows (last Monday of the month):

  • Sept 25, 2023
  • Oct 30, 2023
  • Nov 27, 2023
  • Jan 29, 2024
  • Feb 26, 2024
  • Mar 25, 2024
  • Apr 29, 2024

Office of Human Subjects Research, National Institutes of Health

APA Ethical Guidelines

FAQ