Overview
In an effort to meet the goal of the Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP) to provide appropriate protections of the rights and welfare of human subjects while reducing administrative burdens for multisite research, the University of California developed:
- Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for IRB Review of Multi-Campus Human Subject Research; and
- UC IRB Reliance Registry.
The MOU for IRB Review of Multi-Campus Human Subject Research establishes a reliance agreement among the Human Research Protection Programs (HRPP) at the ten campuses of the University of California, the UC Division of Agriculture Natural Resources (ANR), and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The MOU allows an HRPP at any of the UC campuses to rely upon the review and approval, or determination of exemption, of human subject research by an IRB at another UC campus. The MOU (pdf) and MOU Implementation Procedures (pdf) are available on the UC Office of the President Research Policy Analysis and Coordination website.
All studies covered by the MOU require the use of the UC IRB Reliance Registry. The Registry is a communication tool that facilitates the sharing of IRB protocol approvals for multisite studies that involve human subject research among the UC campuses.
The Registry was developed by UC Office of the President Research Policy Analysis and Coordination office in partnership with the IRB offices at all UC campuses, ANR and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The Registry was tested by faculty researchers at several UC campuses, and continues to be refined to meet the needs of research faculty and IRB staff.
Using the UC IRB Reliance Registry
The following documents provide detailed instructions on using the UC IRB Reliance Registry:
Completion of a study registration in the UC IRB Reliance Registry is only one step to rely on another UC IRB’s review. Please see the Registry FAQs for an overview of using the UC IRB Reliance Registry.
Note: If you need to change a name in the table on this page, please contact ORGS-IRBRELIANCE-SA@ucop.edu.