Kingsborough Community College’s Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost is committed to fostering a research environment that promotes respect for the rights and welfare of individuals recruited for, or participating in, research conducted by faculty, students, and staff.  The HRPP is dedicated to facilitating a smooth and efficient research review process, ensuring compliance with federal, state, and CUNY policies and providing administrative and educational support to researchers.  It functions as an extension of CUNY’s Office of Research Compliance.  

Kingsborough’s HRPP Office is located in the Office of the Associate Provost, Dr. Reza Fakhari, in the Marine and Academic Center, Room M-386.

HRPP Structure
Beginning Fall 2011, CUNY’s Office of Research Compliance instituted a major organizational change to provide greater oversight of human subjects research activities throughout the University.  The new structure consists of 5 University Integrated Institutional Review Boards (IU-IRBs) and 19 campus HRPP Offices.  In addition, the University transitioned to a new web-based software/ database system to serve as the technological mechanism for the submission and review of research protocols.  Visit the CUNY HRPP website using the following links to access helpful information and updates.

• CUNY Human Research Protections Program—Information and Instructions for Researchers       http://www.cuny.edu/research/ovcr/human-subjects-research.html
  
  
• Instructions for Researchers on How to Get Started
  http://www.cuny.edu/research/ovcr/human-subjects-research/HRPPTransition.html
  
  
• CUNY Human Research Protections Program Policies and Procedures 
  http://www.cuny.edu/research/ovcr/human-subjects-research/policies-and-procedures.html
  

Conducting Research at Kingsborough
In accordance with the ethical standards of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, all research involving human subjects requires IRB approval prior to the start of research projects.  The purpose of the IRB is to ensure that the rights of research subjects are protected.  The IRB’s concern is in protecting the safety, welfare, privacy and rights of human research subjects.  Beginning Fall 2011, all new research applications must be submitted through the new online system, IRBNet.  The application and forms are all available directly from IRBNet.

Submitting Protocols

• Complete the Collaborative Institutional Training Institution (CITI)All CUNY researchers and key personnel involved in human subjects research, regardless of whether the research is funded or non-funded, are required to complete the online training.Certificates of completion must be submitted with the application.      http://www.cuny.edu/research/ovcr/human-subjects-research/citi-training.html
  
  
• Submit the research application via IRBNet.  Instructions are available at:
  http://www.cuny.edu/research/ovcr/human-subjects-research/HRPPTransition.html

Submission Deadlines
There are no deadlines for protocols requiring Exempt or Expedited review.  Exempt protocols will be reviewed by the HRPP Coordinator and Expedited reviews by the KCC IU-IRB members.  Submission deadlines do apply for protocols requiring Full Committee review.  These will be reviewed at the next scheduled meeting of the CUNY IU-IRB.

Determining the Review Type
To determine whether a research protocol constitutes human subjects research, CUNY uses the definitions provided at 45CFR46.102.  Researchers who are unsure of whether their research meets these definitions, and therefore requires exemption or approval from the IRB, must submit a Research Determination Form via IRBNet.  The HRPP Coordinator makes the determination of whether a project constitutes human subjects research.  The three protocol review types are Exempt, Expedited, and Full.  Research that does not fall within the Exempt or Expedited categories requires Full review and approval by the CUNY IU-IRB. Go to the list of protocol review categories.