Research ethics harmonization

For more than 15 years, BC’s research ethics community has worked to build an environment where health research involving people, their data or their biological materials is carried out in a respectful, just and compassionate way.

Out of this commitment came the Harmonization for Multi-Jurisdictional Studies — a collaborative effort to streamline ethics reviews while building trust in the research process and protecting participants.

The harmonized model allows researchers to submit a single ethics application for studies conducted across multiple geographic areas or involving participants, data or resources from more than one institution. This helps reduce duplication and burden in reviews, while increasing efficiency and maintaining integrity. Today, it is in use by all BC health authorities, most research universities and many colleges, reducing duplication and strengthening collaboration across the province.

We support this work by coordinating and advancing the harmonized model, engaging researchers and institutions, and helping to ensure that BC remains connected to national and international efforts to strengthen research ethics within all clinical trials.

View the list of institutional research ethics boards and organizations who are part of the harmonized ethics reviews.

• 2007: The harmonization initiative began in 2007 as the BC Ethics Harmonization Initiative (BCEHI).
• 2018: The initiative moved under the Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) in 2018.
• 2020: In 2020, it became part of Michael Smith Health Research BC (Health Research BC).
• 2023: In 2023, the Ministry of Health and health authorities launched the Research Approvals Processes Project (RAPP), a provincial initiative to improve research approvals across ethics, privacy, contracts and data access.
• 2024: As part of RAPP in 2024, the Ministry asked Health Research BC to explore a provincial health authority research ethics board service. Health Research BC’s clinical trials and research ethics teams convened representatives from health authorities, academia, patient partners, research institutes and the life sciences sector to design a community-informed model. In November 2024, Health Research BC delivered a design and transformation business case to the Ministry and health authorities. This work is moving forward with the support of health leadership.

We play a supportive role in advancing harmonization while leading collaborative change. We engage researchers and institutions, and share information, tools and resources to build ethics capacity across BC.

For researchers, we provide:

• Ethics consultations
• Access to the provincial ethics application system (PREP platform)
• Training and development on clinical research ethics and consent processes

For research ethics board administrators, we provide:

• Support for institutional REB development
• Guidance documents and manuals
• Communities of practice
• Support for organizations who are part of the Research Ethics Board Administrators (REBA) network, including education, events and conferences