Fast Facts
Accreditation of UO Human Research Protection Program

WHO: The Office for Responsible Conduct of Research, under the direction of Richard Linton, UO Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies, in collaboration with the Office for Protection of Human Subjects, is seeking accreditation of our Human Research Protection Program from the Association for Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP).

AAHRPP works to protect the rights and welfare of research participants and to promote scientifically meritorious and ethically sound research by using an accreditation process based on self-assessment, peer review, and education. See http://www.aahrpp.org.

WHY: Accreditation is an independent assessment of how well we, as an institution, are complying with our federal and state required obligations. Participant safety and regulatory compliance in human subjects’ research are becoming more complex; therefore, it is incumbent upon the University to meet the highest standards in research involving human subjects and to foster a culture of research integrity and compliance with a focus on education, training, and technical assistance.

Through accreditation, we hope to better protect the human research participants who make our work possible, streamline internal compliance processes, and bring ourselves better into compliance with the federal and state regulations.

WHAT: The 5 phases of accreditation (self-assessment, preliminary and final submissions, site visit and council review) are scheduled to be completed in 2008. The first phase, self-assessment, will be an internal review of policies and procedures related to human subjects research, to assure that the institution is meeting federal regulations, following guidelines and protecting the rights, safety and welfare of study participants in research.

WHEN: Work was begun on the first phase, self-assessment, in January 2007 by the Accreditation Work Group, a broadly representative body of faculty, administrators and staff, who are assisting with the documentation for the application.

WHERE: The Office for Responsible Conduct of Research (ORCR) is overseeing the application for accreditation (http://research.uoregon.edu/research_orcr.html). For more information, please contact Meg Rowles, Compliance Coordinator, 541 346-3863 or mrowles@uoregon.edu.