Investigating the role of the HREC administrator

Human research ethics committee (HREC) play a crucial role in the ethical review system in Australia. However there has been little research examining their role and their experiences. As part of our research program in human research ethics we want to address this gap. A useful addition to the research is Kordula Dunscombe’s Master of Social Health thesis (supervised by Lynn Gillam), How do human research ethics committee administrators see and manage their role in the ethical review process? This research employed an online survey of HREC administrators in Victoria, Australia. This provided a base-line picture of the HREC administrator role: who administrators are and what they do. In addition, participants’ views about some of the more difficult aspects of their role were collected and analysed.

Following the survey, a further project is being conducted involving individual interviews with HREC administrators in Victoria, Australia. This is being conducted by Dr Philomena Horsley, and is currently underway (Nov 2010). Preliminary findings were presented at the Australasian Ethics Network Conference 2010. These data present a complex picture of multiple and often ill-defined roles being carried out, in a context where the HREC administrator is frequently the public face of the ethics committee for the research community.