Information for Researchers

  1. Institutional Review Board and Office of Research Oversight
  2. Information for Researchers

To comply with federal regulations and SU policies, all SU affiliates must submit any proposal involving human participants to the Office of Research Oversight. Beginning 1 July 2023, researchers will submit all new studies via the Seattle University OneAegis system using their SU credentials. A researcher with a currently open protocol that predates 1 July 2023 should continue to use traditional post-approval forms for Modification Requests, Continuing Review, etc.

Your proposal to the IRB will fall into one of the following review categories: Exempt, Expedited or Full Board. Here are a few details on these categories and their review timelines:

  • Certain types of low-risk research submissions may be determined by us to be “Exempt” from IRB oversight.
  • Unlike Exempt research, projects reviewed at the Expedited level involve some privacy or psychological and/or physical risk to human subjects participants, but to a minimal degree. You must complete CITI human subjects training for Expedited submissions.
  • Both Exempt and Expedited submissions are reviewed on a rolling basis, after submission through OneAegis.
  • When research activities pose risks to participants significantly higher than those encountered in daily life, the study will need review by the full IRB Committee. You must complete CITI human subjects training before you submit a project for review at the Full-Board level. You must submit full-board studies three weeks before the monthly meeting. 

Information about Ceding Oversight

SU affiliates who collaborate with researchers at other institutions may request that the SU IRB cede oversight to another institution. This is particularly common when the PI for a project is affiliated with another institution. Sometimes, this is called a Reliance Agreement. No SU affiliate may engage in any aspect of a collaborative study until receiving written documentation from the SU IRB regarding ceding oversight.

The SU IRB does not have a separate form for ceding oversight. To initiate the process, please email irb@seattleu.edu.

Information for Student Researchers

Students engage in human participant research activities in different ways. The two most common here at Seattle University are:

  • As part of a course, students might conduct minimal-risk human participant research overseen by a faculty member, who coordinates with the IRB on behalf of all students.
  • An SU student might serve as Primary/Principal Investigator (PI) on a research project involving human participants for an Honors, Capstone, DNP, or dissertation project. In these cases, the student should submit a protocol application directly to the IRB after consulting and working closely with an SU faculty/staff adviser.

Students will also use the OneAegis portal for submissions. Students, please make sure that your advisor knows that you plan to submit an application. Note that the OneAegis system will not "recognize" your advisor when you try to list them if that advisor has never logged into the system before. Once you finish your application, the system will route your complete, submitted protocol to your faculty/staff adviser for review and sign-off before it comes to the IRB Office.