Ethics committee

 

Material to be submitted to the ethics committee as files via e-mail includes the following:

  1. Ethics form
  2. Letter from the interviewees agreeing to participate in the research.
  3. Copy of the research apparatus
  4. Certificate of completion of the ethics course. The course is taught via an online tutorial available to Hebrew University researchers. Details of the course appear below.

Please send the material to the coordinator of the committee, Dalia sol yung , sw.ethics@mail.huji.ac.il

For questions, clarifications and consultation you can contact the chair of the committee, Prof. Maya Benish-Weisman , Maya.BW@mail.huji.ac.il

Authorization of scientific research involving human subjects
According to the “procedure on the matter of ethics in scientific research involving human subjects” laid down by the University authorities, all research involving human subjects is required, as of 1 January 2004, to obtain the authorization of the school’s ethics committee, unless it has already received the authorization of the Helsinki Committee of a recognized medical institution.

This directive applies to all researchers at the school, including MSW and Ph.D. students.

 

Requests for authorization by the ethics committee are to be submitted before the research plan is carried out. Requests applying to work towards a master’s thesis are to be submitted after the supervisor has approved the proposal. Requests applying to work towards a doctoral dissertation are to be submitted after the accompanying committee has approved the research proposal. The request must include the form requesting the ethics committee’s authorization, together with a short of summary about three pages, describing the research topic and hypotheses, and detailing the research methods, including methods of data collection and means of reaching the research participants. The request must be submitted electronically to the committee chair. Regarding research seminars in the undergraduate and master’s programs, the Supreme Ethics Committee of the University has authorized a special procedure for dealing with such research proposals. According to this, conducting any research involving human subjects in these frameworks requires the authorization of two faculty members from the school: the course teacher and another faculty member.

 

The members of the ethics committee are at the faculty’s disposal, to help them when necessary. 

 

To download the form requesting authorization by the ethics committee, click here.

 

From the 2013 academic year, all researchers whose research involves human subjects are required to undergo an ethics course by means of an online tutorial purchased by the University and to include a certificate of completion of this course to their ethics request.  To help all those concerned to fulfil this requirement, the University purchased a subscription to an online tutorial that provides a certificate at the completion of training. The software is called CITI and an explanation of it can be found at the R&D Authority website. You are invited to use this software, as explained in the appendix appearing, for your convenience, immediately below.

 

Appendix – Explanation of CITI

CITI is a non-profit organization promoting the use of uniform computerized programs to train faculty at research institutions in appropriate behavior in research. This is reflected in its name: CITI = the Collaborative Institutional Training Institute.

Among its training programs is one aimed at experiments on humans: The CITI Program for the Protection of Human Research Subjects.

The University pays a subscription to this organization’s computerized bundle, and any researcher at the Hebrew University can enter the system, study a topic of interest, and receive a certificate of competence in this area.

 

How to enter the teaching software:

  • Enter the website www.citiprogram.org
  • Click on New Users Register Here
  • Enter “Participating Institutions” and choose “Hebrew University”
  • Fill in the personal details required and choose the appropriate module. The basic course Social Behavioral Basic Research is the most basic and suited to everyone
  • Press “enter” and begin the course. Native English speakers usually take about four hours to complete the course.
  • After every section, there is a test that must be passed. At the end of the course, a certificate is issued.