Research Ethics

Please note: for inquiries regarding a Conflict of Interest (COI) or Adverse Event please contact Trevor Davis directly at tjdavis@sfu.ca

The Office of Research Ethics (ORE) upholds the highest ethical and regulatory standards of research involving human participants. To learn more, please visit Research Ethics of this website.

The ORE supports researchers through the ethics review process, from the preparation of a new submission to continuing review of ongoing research. The ORE educates researchers in the policies and process of research ethics and ethics review and facilitates the review process conducted by the SFU Research Ethics Board and its subcommittees.

Simon Fraser University is committed to ensuring the highest level of ethical conduct for research involving human participants and to following the guidelines outlined in the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS 2). 

University researchers enjoy special freedoms and privileges, which include freedom of inquiry and the right to disseminate the results thereof, freedom to challenge conventional thoughts, freedom from institutional censorship, and the privilege of conducting research on human subjects with the trust and support of the general public, often with public funding. 

With these freedoms come responsibilities to ensure that research involving human subjects meets high scholarly and ethical standards, is honest and thoughtful inquiry, involves rigorous analysis and complies with professional and disciplinary standards and methodological approaches.

Researchers should also be aware that the policies of and the process of REB review is always evolving and changing, as standards and requirements change.