Which Ethical Review Do You Need for Research Involving Human Subjects (within the HEALTH Domain)?

Research involving human subjects – such as patients, respondents, healthy volunteers, or other participants – may only start after receiving a positive ethical review. Within the HEALTH domain, there are different possible routes. Your proposal must be reviewed either by a Medical Research Ethics Committee (MREC) or by one of the four UT domain-specific ethics committees (see Scientific Integrity | Service Portal | University of Twente).

The appropriate route depends on the objectives and methods of your study, as well as the legislation that applies. In practice, it is not always straightforward for individual researchers to determine which pathway is required.

To support researchers in this process, the TechMed Centre has expanded its information on this topic (see Human subject research | Technical Medical Centre, dropdown menu ‘Ethical Review’). In addition, a form has been developed to request an assessment of your project by the TechMed Centre, to help you determine which legislation applies to your study and which review route you should follow.

This assessment can also be uploaded to the ethical review tool as a non-WMO statement.

This way, we ensure that research involving human subjects starts carefully, compliantly, and through the correct procedures.