UniSQ Human Research Ethics Committee

Research that is deemed Higher risk (greater than low risk) must be reviewed by the UniSQ HREC at one of the scheduled meeting below. These dates should be taken into consideration when preparing your ethics submission. To determine if your ethics application will need to be reviewed at a HREC meeting, a list of the conditions can be found on the Human Ethics Review page. If your project is lower risk, the submission deadlines do not apply and you can submit your application at anytime to be reviewed via the Expedited review pathway.

Final HREC meeting for 2025

2026 Human Research Ethics Committee meeting dates

Why is the submission deadline 3 weeks before the meeting date?

• Administrative review once your application is endorsed by the Head of School (HoS).
• Follow-up by the research team, if additional information is requested.
• HREC member pre-meeting review, giving members sufficient time to read and assess all applications scheduled for discussion prior to the meeting. This step is critical for an efficient meeting process and helps prevent meetings from running overtime.

Why does it take up to 15 business days for an outcome to be provided following the meeting?

If your application is approved at the meeting, you’ll usually be notified within 5 business days. For all other outcomes, the turnaround time is up to 15 business days. Here’s why:

• There can be up to 10 or more applications reviewed at a single meeting.
• For each application, the Ethics Office must:
  • Compile pre-meeting review comments and meeting discussions.
  • Draft these into actionable feedback for the reserach teams
• The drafted feedback then requires confirmation by the HREC Chair before it can be sent out to each of the research teams.

This process ensures accuracy and consistency, but it does take time. Please factor the post meeting process into your planning so you can meet your own deadlines.

The UniSQ HREC has vacancies in the following member categories

• Expression of Interest flyer (PDF)
• Expression of interest application form (DOC)

Email human.ethics@unisq.edu.au for further information on the University of Southern Queensland Human Research Ethics Committee (UniSQ HREC).