Ethics

To  be  ethical,  all  health  research  on  animals  and  on  human  participants  must  be  scientifically sound.  Ethics  are  as  important  as  scientific  considerations  when  reviewing  a  research  project. An  independent  South  African  based  research  ethics  committee  must  review  the  ethical  and  scientific rigour of all clinical trials to be conducted in South Africa. - South African GCP Guidelines

The function of any health research ethics committee is to ensure protection of and respect the rights, safety and wellbeing of participants involved in a study as well as to provide public assurance of that protection by reviewing, approving and providing comments on research protocols, investigators, facilities and procedures. Ethical approval is usually granted through the local collaborating institution. UCT research studies involving human participants, or specimens or data obtained from humans, requires approval from the Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) while pre-clinical studies should apply to the Animal Research Ethics Committee in the Faculty of Health Sciences.

HREC meeting dates        Submission Fact Sheet        HREC toolkit
 

Packages should be hand delivered to:
Human Research Ethics Committee
E53 Room 46
Old Main Building
Groote Schuur Hospital