Institutional Review Board

Welcome to Merrimack’s IRB

The Institutional Review Board (IRB) is charged with safeguarding the rights and well-being of human subjects in research/projects conducted at or sponsored by Merrimack College.

Responsibilities include:

Developing and disseminating federally compliant policies for the protection of human subjects.
Developing and implementing institutionally appropriate procedures for ensuring the protection of human subjects, in collaboration with other members of the Merrimack College community.
Educating members of the Merrimack College community about the ethical and legal obligations associated with human subject projects.
Conducting reviews of generalizable research projects to ensure that such research will be carried out in a manner that safeguards the rights and well-being of the subjects.
Promoting professional development in research ethics for Merrimack College employees in support of their instructional, research and administrative work.

Overview

An Institutional Review Board (IRB) is a committee, or board, of volunteers including scientists, non-scientists and community members, that ensures research protocols involving human subjects are ethical and that the rights of participants are protected. The federal Office of Human Research Protection (OHRP), through its process of approving and granting Federalwide Assurance for institutions that conduct human subject research, requires that an institution’s human subject activities and its Institutional Review Board (IRB) be designated under the Assurance, will be guided by the ethical principles in “The Belmont Report: Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research”.

Merrimack College is committed to the pursuit of excellence in research, scholarship, and related professional achievement. The Merrimack IRB exists to ensure that all research participants are treated with respect and safety and because federal law requires that all research involving human participants (or source-identifiable biospecimens from human participants) receive IRB approval. Research projects falling under IRB review are varied and diverse and include disciplinary-based research in the biomedical and social-behavioral disciplines, in-class research at the undergraduate and/or graduate level, and community engaged research projects.

The College has provided a formal guarantee to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) that it will follow procedures to assure the protection of all human subjects involved in research projects.