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(Advice added 12 October 2026)

End of year closure advice and submission deadlines

The Ethics Office will be closed from Monday 14 December 2026 and will reopen on Monday 11 January 2027.

Submission deadlines

  • Expedited review (low risk): Sunday 15 November 2026
    Applications must be submitted to the Ethics Office by the end of this date to allow sufficient time for an outcome to be provided before the end-of-year closure.

  • HREC review (greater than low risk): Tuesday 3 November 2026
    Applications must be submitted to the Ethics Office by the end of this date to be considered at the final HREC meeting of the year.

Please note the following:

  • To ensure your application reaches the Ethics Office by the relevant deadline, it must be submitted in the system at least one week before the relevant deadline above to allow sufficient time for Local Authoriser review and endorsement process. Applications are not officially submitted to the Ethics Office until they have been endorsed and forwarded to our office by the Local Authoriser.

  • Applications submitted or resubmitted to the Ethics Office after 14 November 2026 will not be considered until the office reopens on 11 January 2027. The applicable ethics review turnaround time will commence from the date the office reopens, not the date of submission or resubmission.

  • Applications submitted after the HREC review deadline that are subsequently assessed as greater than low risk will not be considered by the HREC until its first meeting of 2027. Please consider the guidance under Application resources and guidance when considering whether your research may be greater than low risk and submit by the appropriate deadline.

(Last updated 16 July 2026)

NEW - Ethics Advisor Chatbot

Meet the newest member of the Ethics Team: the Ethics Advisor (AI Agent) chatbot, now available to all UniSQ staff and students through Microsoft Teams and Copilot.

The Ethics Advisor chatbot provides general guidance on human research ethics requirements, application processes, and frequently asked questions, helping you find information quickly, conveniently, and when it suits you.

To get started, download and install the Ethics Advisor Chatbot in Teams or Copilot using the instructions available on the Ethics Advisor SharePoint site.

Please note that the Ethics Advisor provides general guidance only and does not replace formal ethics review or advice from the Ethics Office.

Mandatory Peer Review - recently updated

The Mandatory Peer Review process and checklist have been revised. Please ensure to use the updated checklist for all future Human Research Ethics submissions. The checklist and the updated guidance is available under Submission processes and reporting > Mandatory Peer Review

NEW - Prior approval Self-checklist

As part of the updates to the Mandatory Peer Review process, a Prior Approval Self Checklist has been developed and implemented for researchers to use when applying for Prior Approval acknowledgements. This self-checklist satisfies the Mandatory Peer Review requirement for applications of this type only. Further information and the self-checklist is available under Submission processes and reporting > Research approved by another HREC (Prior approval application).

Additional ethics resources now available

A new suite of Human Research Ethics FAQ Sheets is now available under Application resources and guidance > Human Ethics FAQ Sheets.

Current topics include:

  • AI and Human Research Ethics
  • Autoethnographic Research and Ethics Approval
  • Social Media Research and Ethics Approval

These resources have been developed to support researchers in navigating common ethical considerations and ethics application requirements.

Additional FAQ sheets and guidance materials are currently in development and will be released progressively as they become available.

National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Research 2025 - now implemented 

(Last updated 10 June 2026)
As you may be aware, the NHMRC released the revised National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research 2025 on 1 April 2025, with the implementation date ultimately postponed. 

On 10 June 2026, the NHMRC announced that the 2025 National Statement will take effect from 23 June 2026. From this date, the UniSQ Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) will operate in accordance with the 2025 version of the National Statement.

Key changes include updates to Section 4 (Ethical considerations specific to participants), along with minor amendments to other sections. A summary of these changes is available on the NHMRC website.

The UniSQ human research ethics application form has also been revised to align with the updated guidance, with the updated form released on 20 May 2026.

Local Authoriser Guidance

A guidance document for Local Authorisers to support the review of ethics application submissions is available under Submission processes and reporting. This provides clear advice on key considerations during review, delegation of the authorising role, and aims to improve the overall quality of applications submitted for ethical review. This advice was implemented in conjunction with the mandatory peer review process on 1 September 2025.

Local Authorisers are encouraged to refer to this document each time they review an application for endorsement.

More information

Please contact the Ethics Office if you have any questions.