Respectful Treatment of Research Participants

Any member of Barnard College who plans to initiate research involving animals must submit a protocol for review by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Columbia University prior to beginning the project. The Principal Investigator (PI) on an animal protocol form must be an Officer of Instruction with a full-time appointment and have the rank of Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, or Instructor. Senior Research Scientists/Scholars and Research Scientists/Scholars may also serve as PIs and submit an animal protocol form.

View information about the IACUC and the process for submitting a protocol.

Any member of the Barnard College faculty, staff, postdoctoral, and student bodies who plans to initiate research involving human subjects must submit a protocol for IRB review prior to beginning the project.

The Barnard IRB meets on the second Monday of every month while classes are in session, and as needed during the summer recess. In order to assure a timely review, please submit your application to the IRB at least two weeks before a scheduled meeting.

Lisa Son
Department of Psychology
Milbank Hall, Room 415C
3009 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
212-854-4247
lson@barnard.edu ​​​​​​​

Most submissions to the IRB will fit into one of the three categories listed below.

1. New Proposal

Before initiating any research, the PI will need to provide the Barnard IRB with a completed copy of the Barnard College Application for the Review of a Human Subjects Research Protocol in a New Project.

Supporting materials to be submitted with this form include:

• Pending or approved funding proposals that include any of the studies described in this application

• Consent forms

• Any flyers, emails, or letters that will be used to solicit research participants

• Certificates of completion of the online Human Subjects Protection Training module for all researchers involved in the proposed research (see FAQs below for questions about this)

2. Continuing Research Proposal

All continuing research projects must be reviewed annually. If your research protocols were reviewed by the Barnard IRB at the time of an initial proposal, you may simplify the application for an annual review of the continuing project by completing the Application for the Review of a Human Subjects Research Protocol in a Continuing Project.

3. Applications for Research Conducted by Barnard Undergraduates

Research projects being conducted by Barnard undergraduates as part of a classroom exercise are not reviewed by the Barnard IRB.  If the researched data may be used as part of a larger published project, then IRB approval must be obtained. However, the research mentor and the student researcher should complete the Student as PI Worksheet.

A copy of this completed form should be retained by the student and the mentor until the research project is complete.

This form is intended for pedagogically oriented undergraduate research. It is not appropriate for research projects initiated by Barnard faculty that include student research assistants.

To terminate a research project, the PI should provide the Barnard IRB with a completed copy of the Termination of a Research Protocol Involving Human Subjects form.