FAQs
Details of the VinUniversity policy and procedures are available on the VinUni website at THIS LINK. VinUni must ensure that the rights and interests of human participants involved in VinUni research are protected, that research is conducted with appropriate informed consent, and that the benefits of any research involving such participants outweighs the risks to them and others. Any research that involves research with human participants must be reviewed and approved by an ethical review board duly constituted with the appropriate expertise and authority to review, approve, require amendments to, or deny the research. Such research is subject to regular monitoring for continued compliance with the approved protocols.
Templates for consent forms, and the application form are available here.
Yes. If your project involves interaction with human participants, collecting private data or information from them (surveys, focus groups, etc., biological data, demographic data), it requires review and approval by an ethical review board. No research with human participants can commence before receiving formal approval.
The level of review will depend on the nature of the interaction with human participants. Activities that are considered no more than minimal risk to participants, can be reviewed and approved following the expedited review procedures. If the project proposes clinical interventions or clinical trials or use of intrusive biomedical devices, blood collection etc., these projects are considered more than minimal risk and must be reviewed following the Full Board review process which can take up to two or three months.
Researchers should visit the IRB website for further guidance and contact the VPRO for advice if they have questions.
The staff at the Research Management Office will review all applications to ensure that they meet the university requirements. If the project is eligible for expedited review, one member of the VinUni Research Affairs Committee will review the proposal. Once they endorse the proposal, it will be sent to the Ethics Review Committee (ERC) at Vinmec International Hospital. VinUni has an agreement with the Vinmec ERC that allows them to serve as our IRB of record.
- A completed application form
- All consent forms and information sheets
- Survey/questionnaires proposed
- All participant facing information should be in the local language. Therefore, please attach the translations for all consent/survey documents.
You can find these documents on our website at THIS LINK.
Projects eligible for expedited review will take 2-4 weeks for approval. Projects that require full board review will probably take 2-3 months. PIs will need to work directly with the Vinmec ERC for full board review protocols.
PIs and project teams are required to comply with the terms of the approved projects. If there are any changes to the original project procedures or documents, PIs must submit an amendment to the Research Management Office describing the reason for the change and attaching all relevant documents. Depending on the nature of the change, the amendment may get approved administratively or require review and approval by the ERC. The document of amendment request can be found here.
Contact the staff at the Research Management Office at research@vinuni.edu.vn