Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC)

Prior to commencement of any human research activity in a public health organisation, researchers must obtain ethical approval and governance authorisation.

The Northern Sydney Local Health District Human Research Ethics Committee (NSLHD HREC) reviews ethics applications for single site and multi-centre studies.

NSLHD HREC is accredited as a Lead HREC by the NSW Ministry of Health and is also a certified institution under the NHMRC National Harmonisation of Multi-centre Ethical Review Initiative (HoMER).

Research Office staff have extensive experience preparing and reviewing submissions to the NSLHD HREC and are able to provide advice and assistance with applications. The Research Office encourages all researchers wishing to undertake projects across NSLHD to make the Research Office their first point of contact.

NSLHD HREC is accredited to review multi-centre research projects within the following areas:

Clinical Trials – Phase II and above.

NB: Early phase clinical trials (EPCTs) (i.e. studies up to but not including Phase II, or studies with a Phase I component) must be submitted to Bellberry HREC for ethics review.
Paediatric EPCTs with a NSW Public Health Organisation site are required to be submitted to Sydney Children’s Health Network (SCHN) HREC for ethics review.
Further information is available on ClinicalTrialsNSW website .

Population Health and/or public health
Clinical Intervention Research (other than clinical trials)

HREC Operating Procedures

PDF icon The NSLHD HREC Terms of Reference

The Standard Operating Procedures for the HREC are incorporated in the NSW Ministry of Health guideline External Link , Human Research Ethics Committees: Standard Operating Procedures for NSW Public Health Organisations (GL2013_009).

If you require a statement regarding the composition of the HREC (for regulatory purposes), please contact the Research Office.

As the HREC of a NSW Public Health Organisation, the HREC follows all relevant NSW Health policy which guides the operation and practices of the HREC and the Research Office. These can be found at the NSW Ministry of Health - Office of Health and Medical Research website External Link , or via our "Resources for Researchers" section.

The NSLHD HREC operates under the requirements set out by the National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC). All research involving humans must conform to the NHMRC National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2007) External Link and the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research (2018) .