Graduate Education

IRB is the acronym for Institutional Review Board for Human Participants. Any institution that receives federal funding to conduct research with human participants, such as Georgetown College, is required to establish an IRB to review all research that directly or indirectly involves human participants, and to set forth institutional policy governing such research.

The IRB for Human Participants has the authority to review, approve, disapprove or require changes in research or related activities involving human participants. Research reviewed by the IRB may also be subject to other review and approval or disapproval by officials at Georgetown College. However, those officials may not approve research that has not been approved by the IRB for Human Participants. The IRB primary role is to ensure the protection of human participants as subjects of research at Georgetown College.

All research investigation involving human subjects, conducted by faculty, staff, or students under the auspices or financial support of Georgetown College, must be reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board for Review of Research Involving Human Subject (IRB), or be declared exempt from the review by that board. The IRB operates under the policies and procedures of the colleges, established to insure compliance with the National Research Act (P. L. 93-348) and the regulations set forth in Part 46 of Title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations (45 CFR 46). The purpose of IRB review is to protect the rights and personal privacy of individuals and assure a favorable climate for conducting scientific inquiry.