Institutional Review Board

​​​​​Institutional Review Board (Human Subjects Oversight)

IRB Functions:  (Faculty Manual; Article V - Committees, Councils, and Boards)

To define categories of research projects involving human subjects that 1) are exempt from committee review, 2) may have expedited committee review, 3) require full committee review; To establish/monitor the use of the University's Guidelines for Research Involving Human; To create/process application forms/procedures for review of proposed research projects; To make decisions on the appropriateness of proposed research projects based on all of the above; To establish/carry out periodic review procedures for approved research projects; To keep records of proposed and approved research projects.

The University of Findlay has established a Research Review Committee to review and approve all research involving human subjects. All human subjects research conducted at the University must be reviewed and approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) prior to the start of the research.


The National Research Act Public Law 99 - 156, the Food and Drug Administration regulations published at 21 CFR 50 and 56, Health and Human Subjects regulations published at 45 CFR 46, The Health Research Extension Act of 1985, and the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subject of Biomedical and Behavioral Research provide guidelines for research with human subjects to ensure their protection in the design and conduct of research. Based on these federal regulations, it is the responsibility of the investigator to refer his or her project to the IRB for review whenever human subjects are being considered for research, even if the investigator does not consider the subjects to be at risk. 


The Review Board will have the responsibility for determining what does or does not meet the criteria for exempt, expedited review or full review.


Current Policies and Procedures can be found within theIRB Guidelines v2017.