Application
The IRB must approve all research conducted at Middlebury, or undertaken by members of the Middlebury community, that involves human beings as subjects.
Submission
You must submit an application and obtain IRB approval before you start your research.
The approval process can take several weeks, so please allow sufficient time. (Note: Many submitted protocols can be evaluated by the chair and/or a subcommittee of the full IRB within two weeks of submission. Research that involves unusually high risk factors or especially vulnerable populations requires the approval of the full committee, and may take up to 4 weeks for review and approval.
Research Ethics Training
To apply for IRB approval, you must complete research ethics training. Training is provided via the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI). The Social and Behavioral Research modules take approximately 3-4 hours to complete and do not have to be done all at one time. Please see the instructions to create an account, add the Social and Behavioral Research course, and complete training. If you have already completed training through the National Institutes of Health course, we will accept any training taken within the last four years for faculty/staff and two years for students. Note that NIH will be discontinuing this course in Fall 2018 so we encourage you to use the CITI module.
Application process
New protocol applications, amendments, and annual check-ins are all completed through Axiom Mentor. You can log in to Axiom Mentor (with your Middlebury credentials). The Quick Start Guide to creating an application is a great place to start, and you may want to review the list of questions you may be asked in the new protocol application. If you’re not sure how to answer those questions, please check the Reference Guide to the Questions Asked on the New Protocol Application.
If the IRB has any questions or comments on your proposal, you will be contacted by email.