Research Ethics at the Fort Garry Campus

The University of Manitoba (UM) is committed to protecting the rights and welfare of humans participating in research studies. All research projects involving humans and/or human biological materials conducted at, or under the auspices of the University of Manitoba, require prior ethics review and approval by a Research Ethics Board (REB).

Research Ethics Boards

There are two REBs at the Fort Garry Campus. The following departments/faculties are to submit their protocols to the appropriate REB as listed below.

Departments/Faculties Submitting to REB 1 

  • Asper School of Business
  • College of Nursing
  • Department of Psychology
  • Department of Sociology and Criminology
  • Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management
  • Faculty of Social Work
  • Student Counselling and Career Centre

Departments/Faculties Submitting to REB 2

  • Administrative Research 
  • Arthur V. Mauro Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies
  • Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning
  • Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources
  • Desautels Faculty of Music
  • Extended Education
  • Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences
  • Faculty of Architecture
  • Faculty of Arts (except the departments of Psychology, and Sociology & Criminology)
  • Faculty of Education
  • Faculty of Science
  • Faculty of Law
  • Libraries
  • Price Faculty of Engineering
  • School of Art

REB 2 Membership List

Biomedical studies and studies from the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences (except from the College of Nursing) are administered through the Research Ethics Office at the Bannatyne Campus.

What You Need to Know Before Submitting to the REB

Considerable preparation is required before submitting your ethics protocol. The following information provides guidance on the documents required for your submission as well as additional consultations and approvals that you may need to seek before starting your research.

Note: Students and Post Doctoral Fellows require an Advisor/Supervisor to sign off on their protocol.

For detailed information on what is listed below, please see our Starter Guide.

Required Certifications

  • TCPS 2 Core Certificate
    • All team members interacting with participants and/or accessing raw data, whether those data are anonymous, anonymized, coded or identifiable, must complete TCPS2: CORE training and upload their Certificate of Completion to their RAS profile.
    • Course on Research Ethics (CORE)
  • UM Privacy Certificate of Completion/ UM Pledge of Confidentiality (if personal health information is collected)
    • All team members must complete the University of Manitoba's Privacy Training for Researchers.
    • Pledges must be signed by the researcher and the Access and Privacy Office.
    • For more information on this training please visit the Access and Privacy Office’s Website

Required Documents

The following documents are often required for protocol submissions. Relevant guidance documents and templates are available in the links below as well as in the Guidelines and Templates section of the webpage. 

  • Signed Oaths of Confidentiality
    • Principal Investigators, Co-Principal Investigators and Advisors do not need to sign an Oath of Confidentiality.
    • The research project title written in the oath must be consistent with the protocol title.
    • Oath of Confidentiality: UM Personnel Template
    • Oath of Confidentiality: Non-UM Personnel Template
  • Recruitment Material
    • Guidelines for Participant Recruitment
  • Consent Forms
    • Consent Form Template Fort Garry
  • Data Collection Tools
    • Data Storage Guidelines for Research with Human Participants
    • Virtual Platforms Guidelines

Consultations and Other Approvals

REB approval applies to the ethical acceptability of the research and does not, in itself, constitute authorization for the research to proceed (TCPS 2, Article 6.3, Application).


As you prepare your protocol submission, you must consider whether other consultations or approvals are required before your research can begin. Consider seeking any other approval processes before submitting to the REB for ethics review. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list.

  • Approvals from Indigenous communities or other organizations
  • Data or Material Sharing/Transfer Agreements (Research Contracts Office)
  • Research Agreements and Memorandum of Understanding (Research Contracts Office)
  • Archival approval
  • UM Information Security and Compliance (UM IST)
  • UM Survey Review Committee
  • Shared Health Research Impact Assessment
  • Provincial Health Research Privacy Committee Review (PHRPC)

Research Administration System

Protocol applications to REB 1 and REB 2 are submitted online through the Research Administration System (RAS). Please upload your CORE and PHIA (if applicable) certificates to your user profile in RAS as soon as possible as these are required for protocol submission.

Research Administration System website

For RAS assistance or to request a training session, contact ras_support@umanitoba.ca.

Research Ethics Board Review Process

Administrative Pre-Review

Overview: All submissions to the Office of Human Research Ethics undergo an initial administrative pre-review. This review ensures that the submission is ready for ethical review by the REB

Expected Timeline: Feedback from the Office of Human Research Ethics will be provided through the Research Administration System within one week.

Delegated Review

Overview: Minimal risk studies are sent for delegated review.

Definition: Minimal risk is “research in which the probability and magnitude of possible harms implied by participation in the research is no greater that those encountered by participants in the aspects of their everyday life that relate to the research.”

Deadlines: There are no deadlines for minimal risk studies. Protocols may be submitted at any time. 

Expected Timeline: The initial review process by the Research Ethics Board is typically three to six weeks

Revisions are reviewed by the Chair only. This takes approximately one week. If the application is inconsistent and unorganized, the review process will take longer. To avoid undue delay, please complete the ethics submission carefully and thoroughly.

Note: Protocols that have not been approved by the REB within 1 year of submission must be withdrawn.  

Please see the Delegated Review Timeline for further details.

Delegated Review Timeline (PDF) 

Flowchart of the delegated Review Timeline from the administrative pre-review to final approval.

Full Board Review

Overview: Full board REB meetings are scheduled once a month to review studies that are more than minimal risk. Protocols that are more than minimal risk are reviewed by the whole REB.

Definition: Minimal risk is “research in which the probability and magnitude of possible harms implied by participation in the research is no greater that those encountered by participants in the aspects of their everyday life that relate to the research.” 

Deadlines: Protocols must be submitted at least three weeks before the REB meeting. Please note, the REBs do not meet in August.  

Please see the meeting schedules and protocol deadlines below for details.

Expected Timeline: The initial review process by the Research Ethics Board is typically three to six weeks

Revisions may be reviewed by the Chair only. This takes approximately one week. If the application is inconsistent and unorganized, the review process will take longer. To avoid undue delay, please complete the ethics submission carefully and thoroughly.

Note: Protocols that have not been approved by the REB within 1 year of submission must be withdrawn.  

Please see the Full Review Timeline for further details.

Full Review Timeline (PDF)

Flowchart of the Full Review timeline from the administrative pre-review to final approval.

Chair Review

Overview: Certain protocols may be review by the REB Chair only. This includes:

  • Protocols that have been approved by the REB at another Canadian University 
  • Secondary Use protocols. "Secondary use refers to the use in research of information or human biological materials originally collected for a purpose other than the current research purpose" (TCPS 2, Article 2.4). 

Deadlines: There are no deadlines for Chair reviews. Protocols may be submitted at any time. 

Expected Timeline: Chair review is typically one week

Revisions are reviewed by the Chair only. This takes approximately one week. If the application is inconsistent and unorganized, the review process will take longer. To avoid undue delay, please complete the ethics submission carefully and thoroughly.

Note: Protocols that have not been approved by the REB within 1 year of submission must be withdrawn. 

Full Board Meeting Schedules and Deadlines

The REBs have pre-scheduled meetings each month to review protocols that are deemed greater than minimal risk.

For studies deemed greater than minimal risk, submissions must be received by 4:30 p.m. on the deadline date listed below. Researchers are strongly encouraged to submit protocols prior to the deadlines.

Please note, protocols must be submitted by the first deadline date in order to be considered for the upcoming REB meeting. The Human Research Ethics Office will conduct an administrative pre-review and send an email with the due date to re-submit. Protocols must be resubmitted by 4:30 p.m. on the re-submission deadline.  REB review may be deferred to the next Full Board Meeting if the protocol is incomplete or requires substantial revisions as part of the administrative pre-review.

REB 1 Schedule

REB 1 deadline dates

Resubmission Deadline

Meeting dates

September 1st, 2023

September 8th, 2023

September 18th, 2023

September 29th, 2023

October 6th, 2023

October 16th, 2023

October 30st, 2023

November 6th, 2023

November 20st, 2023

November 27th, 2023

December 4th, 2023

December 18th, 2023

December 18th, 2023

January 8th, 2024

January 22nd, 2024

February 5th, 2024

February 12th, 2024

February 26th, 2024

February 26th, 2024

March 4th, 2024

March 18th, 2024

March 18th, 2024

April 1st, 2024

April 15th,2024

April 8th, 2024

April 22nd, 2024

May 13th, 2024

May 21st, 2024

June 3rd, 2024

June 17th, 2024

June 17th, 2024

July 2nd, 2024

July 15th, 2024

REB 2 Schedule

REB 2 deadline dates

Resubmission Deadline

Meeting dates

August 16th, 2023

August 23rd, 2023

September 6th, 2023

September 13th, 2023

September 20th, 2023

October 4th, 2023

October 11th, 2023

October 18th, 2023

November 1st, 2023

November 15th, 2023

November 22nd, 2023

December 6th, 2023

December 6th, 2023

December 13th, 2023

January 3rd, 2023

January 17th, 2024

January 24th, 2024

February 7th, 2024

February 7th, 2023

February 14th, 2024

March 6th, 2024

March 6th, 2024

March 20th, 2024

April 3rd, 2024

April 3rd, 2024

April 17th, 2024

May 1st, 2024

May 8th, 2024

May 22nd, 2024

June 5th, 2024

June 5th, 2024

June 19th, 2024

July 3rd, 2024

 

Ethics Approval for Researchers Outside of the University of Manitoba

Overview: Researchers from outside of the University of Manitoba may wish to recruit UM faculty, staff, students or alumni for the purpose of data collection. If UM will actively aid in the recruitment process this requires approval from the UM REB. 

Research Teams WITH a UM Co-Investigator: The UM faculty member should submit to the REB through the online Research Administration System on behalf of the PI. Research that has already been approved by another Canadian institution may undergo Chair review only (please see the description of the Chair Review process above).

Research Teams WITHOUT a UM Co-Investigator: Please submit the following documents by email to humanethics@umanitoba.ca for REB review:

  • REB approval certificate from the home institution
  • Protocol submission form from the home institution
  • Amendment submissions and approvals (if applicable) from the home institution
  • All participant facing documents

Research that has already been approved by another Canadian institution may undergo Chair review only (please see the description of the Chair Review process above).

Follow-On Submissions

All follow-on submissions are processed in the Research Administration System. 

Amendment Requests

Overview: Any changes to the approved protocol or research materials must be reviewed and approved by the REB before implementation through an amendment request.

Expected Timeline: Feedback is typically available within one week.

Personnel Change Requests

Overview:  All team members who will interact with participants and/or have access to raw data, including individual level data, be it anonymous, anonymized, coded or identifiable must be listed on the Personnel Table in the protocol.

If the research team changes a Personnel Change Request must be submitted to update the protocol. 

Expected Timeline: Feedback is typically available within one week.

Renewal Requests

Overview: Protocols are approved for one year only. If the study will continue past one year, please submit a Renewal Request within a month of the expiry date.

Protocol Closures

Overview: REB oversight is required until all communication with participants is complete (i.e., recruitment, data collection, follow up, summary of findings etc.). If you will be in contact with participants again, even if it is just to send a summary of findings, you will need active ethics.

A Protocol Closure must be submitted to the REB when the research is complete or if the research is terminated.

REB Events

Overview: Any deviations from the approved protocol or adverse events must be reported to the REB immediately through an REB Event. If you are unsure on whether you should submit an REB Event, please contact humanethics@umanitoba.ca

Guidelines and Templates

Starter Guide

Considerable preparation is required before submitting your ethics protocol for approval.
The Starter guide provide information to help you get started.

Companion Guides

The purpose of the companion guides is to clarify questions that appear in the Research Administration System ethics protocol form and to provide additional tips in completing your protocol.

Drop-in Sessions and Workshops

The Office of Human Research Ethics provides weekly drop-in sessions for all researchers, including students. Answers to general questions on the ethics process and submissions can be provided.

If you are not available during the specified time, please email humanethics@umanitoba.ca with your questions or to set up another time to meet. 

Time: Wednesdays from 1:00pm to 3:00pm

https://umanitoba.zoom.us/j/68659568998?pwd=eGVlQXNWcmFBSmpoaUM2anZCTTRYUT09
Meeting ID: 686 5956 8998
Passcode: Ethics
Please log in using your myumanitoba.ca or umanitoba.ca account. 

Due to the confidential nature of some questions, we can only accommodate one person/research team at a time. You will be in the waiting room until we are available to assist you. If you anticipate attending the drop-in session but have limited availability, we encourage you to email humanethics@umanitoba.ca and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Note for students, certain questions may require a separate meeting with your advisor present.


The Office of Human Research Ethics - Fort Garry office also provides workshops in the fall and winter terms. Anyone is welcome to join these sessions. In this 1.5 hour workshop participants are given an overview of research ethics, including helpful tips and best practices to ensure compliance with policies and guidelines. Researchers learn about the Fort Garry REB timelines, how to create a well-prepared ethics application using the new RAS system, and receive key tips from the Human Ethics Office.

The Office of Human Research Ethics also offers in-person and virtual presentations on request. Please email humanethics@umanitoba.ca to schedule a presentation.

Workshop Times TBA

Instructors teaching research methods courses are encouraged to reach out to schedule a presentation.

Human Research Ethics policies

Human Research Ethics and Compliance Newsletter

Feedback Form

Human Research Ethics Fort Garry Feedback/Suggestion Form

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Contact us

Human Ethics Office
Room 404 Administration Building
66 Chancellors Circle
University of Manitoba (Fort Garry campus)
Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2 Canada

204-474-7122