Committees Registration & Assurance
The Institutional Review Board (IRB)
The Ministry of Public Health main policy “Policies, Regulations and Guidelines for Research Involving Human" guards the ethical conduct of human research. The IRB committee registration and institutional assurance apply whenever the institution becomes engaged in human research. Only institutions that have their own Institutional Review Board(s) (IRB) or Independent Ethics Committee (s) (IEC) should submit an IRB/IEC Registration form. Institutions that do not have their own IRB/IEC but rely on the IRB/IEC of another institution should not submit an IRB Registration. Each institution that is engaged in human subjects' research must submit an Assurance application to Department of Research of the Ministry of Public Health. In general, an institution is engaged in human subject's research whenever: (a) the institution's employees or agents intervene or interact with human subjects for research purposes; (b) the institution's employees or agents obtain individually identifiable private information about human subjects for research purposes; or (c) the institution receives Qatari funds to conduct human subject's research, even where all activities involving human subjects are carried out by subcontractor or collaborator. The Assurance Signatory Official must be authorized to represent and commit the entire institution and all of its components to a legally-binding agreement.
The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)
The Ministry of Public Health policy “Policies, Regulations, and Guidelines for Animal Research" guards the ethical conduct of research involving animals. Only institutions that have their own Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) and holds an animal facility/Vivarium can submit an IACUC registration application. Institutions with no capacity to have its own IACUC and or Vivarium can rely on other institutions' IACUC. In both cases, research institutions must apply for an Assurance Application. The Assurance is a binding agreement between the Ministry of Public Health and research Institutions. It is a documentation of an institutional commitment to comply with the MoPH policies in research involving animals.
The Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC)
The Ministry of Public Health policies “Guidelines for Gene Transfer Research in Human" and “Biosafety Guidelines for Research Laboratories", and “The ethical conduct of animal Research" guard research involving infectious agents, animal use, recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid and genetically modified materials. The IBC committee registration and institutional assurance apply whenever the institution becomes engaged in research involving infectious agents, animal use, recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid and genetically modified materials conducted or supported by any research department.