Institutional Review Board
NOVA’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) provides all community members with information, guidance, forms, and related materials needed to secure IRB approval for purposes of conducting human subjects research. The IRB reviews requests for research with human subjects to be conducted by NOVA-affiliated researchers and makes decisions regarding such requests. Decisions may include approval or denial of research requests, as well as required modification of research protocols.
To Submit an IRB request:
- Complete an IRB application
- Provide supporting documents
- Consent Form(s)
- Survey Questionnaire (for projects administering surveys)
- Interview Questions (for projects conducting interviews, focus groups, etc.)
- Project Proposal or Procedure
- Email the completed IRB application and supporting documents to: planningandassessment@nvcc.edu
Note for NOVA Faculty and Staff:
If you are experiencing issues with the IRB application, please ensure that you have Nitro Pro on your device: Introducing Nitro Pro PDF – NOVA’s New PDF Application Solution. If you do not, the IT Help Desk at your campus will be able to assist you with access.
Decisions regarding research proposals will be made in approximately 2-3 weeks from receipt of the proposal. The time frame for review is affected based on the extensiveness of the proposal, the completeness of required elements and descriptions in the proposal, and the number of proposals received. Decisions are based on numerous factors including, but not limited to, the number of research studies being conducted at a given time, the number of participants and time required by participants, and overlap at a given time of study topics and/or category of targeted participants.
NOVA gives priority to research proposals received from internal researchers (e.g., NOVA faculty and staff). NOVA's IRB does not approve research proposals retroactively.
Additional Resources
IRB Contact Information
Please contact the Planning and Assessment team (planningandassessment@nvcc.edu)
Any questions, comments, or suggestions for this page? Contact John Shea – jshea@nvcc.edu