IRBs have one paramount responsibility: To protect the rights and welfare of human research participants. IRBs take into account national and, when appropriate, international ethical standards of research on a protocol-by-protocol basis.
IRBs perform the complex and delicate task of protecting human participants while facilitating research that will lead to important scientific discoveries in the social, behavioral, educational, and biological sciences. The IRBs’ goal is to find the right balance between protecting human participants and helping investigators carry out research in a manner consistent with long-standing ethical principles and federal, state and university regulations.
IRBs at the UW–Madison strive to work interactively with research investigators to assure that research design is appropriate, that risks are minimized and expected benefits are maximized, and that consent procedures are adequate.
The UW-Madison IRBs, through their conscientious application of federal regulations, state law and the ethical principles governing the protection of human research participants, demonstrate to the public that research is reviewed by individuals who do not have a vested interest in the outcome of research and that the rights and welfare of research participants are given the highest priority during the review of research.
Members of each IRB come from a variety of disciplines. Each IRB includes at least one member whose primary concerns are nonscientific and one member who is not affiliated with the University.
For additional information about the UW-Madison’s IRBs, see links to IRB webpages at http://www.grad.wisc.edu/research/hrpp/irblinks.html.
See, also, a description of each IRB’s jurisdiction at http://www.grad.wisc.edu/hrpp/10007.htm.