Forms, Policies and Guidelines

An ethical review is required whenever a study involves data from or on human subjects; however, a student’s research may be exempt from ethical review if it involves work that has already been approved by a University of Toronto Research Ethics Board (REB), for example as part of the supervisor’s research program.

Before you begin research for your thesis or Major Research Project, it's important that you and your supervisor determine whether your research requires ethics approval. Application for approval can only be submitted after the proposal has been approved by the student’s supervisor. This applies to funded and non-funded research, as well as research being conducted as part of a graduate course, thesis or another degree requirement.

Students are advised to submit their ethics review application well in advance of their project's anticipated start date.

Application Procedure
 

1. Review the University of Toronto’s Guidelines and Practices Manual for Research Involving Human Subjects to see if your research qualifies.
2. Discuss your research with your supervisor to determine whether it requires a protocol, and at what stage.
    
3. Once you have determined that your research requires a protocol, you must create a New Application in the My Research Human Protocols (MRHP) online system. MRHP is the University of Toronto's online system for submitting and reviewing human ethics protocols.
    
   • Begin by reviewing the section on this page titled My Research Human Protocols (MRHP). The "I am a Student PI" subsection contains information about how your thesis supervisor can initiate the creation of your protocol. Please review this information with your supervisor. 
      
   • You may also wish to review the University's instructions for creating a new human research ethics protocol. 
      
4. Once submitted, it can take between 4-6 weeks for a delegated review (i.e., if there is no or minimal risk to participants) by the REB, or longer if a full review is required. The REB will e-mail you and your supervisor with comments or revisions if required.
    
5. Once the protocol is approved, the REB will notify you and your supervisor.