Our goals and functions 

Research Ethics and Governance (REG) is committed to supporting research that improves the health and wellbeing of children and young people. Our department oversees research that is conducted in or by the Melbourne Children’s Campus. The campus includes The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH), Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the University of Melbourne Department of Paediatrics. 

The two key goals of our department are to:

1. protect the safety, rights and autonomy of research participants
2. facilitate high quality research through supporting researchers. 
   

To help meet these goals, REG carries out a number of functions. These include:

• managing the ethical review processes of research projects
• managing the governance, namely the site specific approval, of research projects conducted on or by the Melbourne Children’s Campus
• providing researchers with timely advice about research ethics
• assisting researchers with research management, including assistance with meeting legislative and regulatory requirements
• assisting researchers with the risk management of research projects
• providing researchers with support to write in plain language
• policy development.

Ethics and governance 

All research conducted on or by the RCH Melbourne Children’s campus requires:

1. ethical approval by a certified Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) and
2. governance authorisation provided by REG.
   

The RCH HREC complies with the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2007) including all updates. For more information about the HREC, please refer to its:

• Terms of Reference
  
• HREC membership
• Standard Operating Procedures 
  

Our networks

REG is active in a number of collaborative networks, including:

• The Australian Paediatric Research Ethics and Governance (APREG) Network 
• The Melbourne Academic Centre for Health (MACH) Research Excellence (REx) Steering Committee
• Biomedical Research Victoria 

Drop in service for student researchers

Are you a student researcher? Would you like to know more about any part of the ethics process, including plain language writing? Research Ethics and Governance has a new drop in service that can help! 

The service is aimed at students. However, any researcher can use it. 

Drop in service details:

• Every Tuesday from 2 pm - 4 pm.
• At the Research Ethics and Governance office, Level 4 South. Take the white lifts to Level 4 and then cross the bridge to the South building.
• No need to make an appointment, just turn up. We will deal with questions on a first-in basis. 

You can attend the drop in session individually or you can come as a group if you have similar issues to discuss. 

If you aren’t able to attend the drop in session you can make a time to meet with us. Just email us at rch.ethics@rch.org.au and provide a brief description of your project, some available times and your contact details.