General/Human Research Ethics Committee (GHREC)
Overview
The General/Human Research Ethics Committee (GHREC) is dedicated to the ethical review of all general / human-related research at the University of the Free State. It does not include human health-related research. It consists of members from all the faculties as well as other disciplines to ensure broad representation. All ethical clearance applications submitted to the GHREC are reviewed by ethics reviewers. Reviewers make recommendations on the outcome of the application (approved, conditional approval, modifications required, or disapproved) based on the ethical issues arising from the study. These recommendations will either be ratified or overturned by the ethics committee during one of its monthly meetings, after which the relevant personnel will communicate the outcome to the researcher/applicant/ PI.
GHREC composition
- Chair
- Vice-Chair
- Academic representatives from each faculty
- Legally qualified members
- Members with expertise in professional care and counselling
- Members with expertise in qualitative/quantitative research methodologies
- Statistician
- Lay members from the community outside of the university
- Ethicist
- Administrator
GHREC meeting dates
The GHREC submission deadline is the 1st of every month, except for December. No meetings are held in December.
Meeting dates for 2023:
- 26 January 2023
- 23 February 2023
- 30 March 2023
- 20 April 2023
- 25 May 2023
- 27 July 2023
- 25 August 2023
- 29 September 2023
- 27 October 2023
- 24 November 2023
Please note: All applications (except for applications from the Faculty of the Humanities – these are subject to faculty processes and dates) should be returned by the respective faculty administrator before or on the 15th of each month to prepare the agenda for the current month’s meeting date. Any applications received after the November submission deadline (1 November 2023) will not be reviewed and will be carried over to the following year.
Please note: The GHREC reviews applications from all faculties, except the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS). As a result, different faculties may have different submission deadlines. For faculty-specific dates, please contact the relevant research administrator/coordinator within the faculty.
Contact me
Boemo Segoje
Helpdesk
T: +27 51 401 7619
E: SegojeBC@ufs.ac.za
Johannes Brill Building, First Floor, Bloemfontein Campus