Each year at Utah State University, hundreds of researchers work on projects involving living people or living people’s private information or biospecimens. All of that research must first be approved by a committee that examines the ethics of the project, ensures adequate protections for those participants are in place, and makes sure that information shared with participants is clear and understandable. No research with living people can proceed until this committee approves it. That committee is called the Institutional Review Board (IRB).
Community Members play an important role in that review process. Most IRB members work at Utah State University. They spend all day thinking about research. The Community Member Representative provides the outside perspective. They tell us what people think who are not thinking about research every day. They have the ability to shape projects to be more responsive to community-based perspectives, needs, and expectations.
Types of Research
The full IRB reviews USU’s most complex or highest risk research involving living people, or research with especially vulnerable populations. Here are some recent examples of the kind of work that came before the IRB:
- Research involving the best way for people to train and interact with therapy horses
- Research on psychological interventions for people who have been through traumatic experiences
- Research involving consuming certain kinds of supplements, complete with blood draws and other biological sampling, to see if those supplements have better health outcomes for older folks
- Research regarding whether a behavior management program improves conditions for incarcerated youth
- Research on learning more about the systems in the body that help elderly folks maintain their balance and avoid falls
Characteristics of Community Members
Utah State University seeks community members of all kinds! The most important things are: 1) that you are not a researcher; and 2) that you have a willingness to speak up and share your perspective about things that seem great about proposed research, or things that seem not so great about proposed research.
We are especially hopeful that we can add members who are representative of the kinds of work our Board reviews. That could include:
- Parents of school-aged children, especially children with disabilities
- People who have been incarcerated or who have a loved one who has been or is incarcerated
- Caregivers (or former caregivers) for people who cannot make their own decisions (older adults, persons with dementia, adult children with severe disabilities, etc.)
- People who are or who have worked closely with immigrant and refugee populations
- People who have been involved with a family member’s mental health care
- People who are very into fitness, exercise, and nutrition
- People who advocate for others who have less of a voice in processes that affect them
- People who have served in the armed forces
And so many others! If you’re interested in serving on the IRB, we would love to hear from you.
Member Expectations
The IRB meets twice a month during the academic year (August to May). We meet on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month, from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. via Zoom. We ask that our IRB members be able to attend one meeting a month. If you are interested but don’t have the technology, we can assist with those barriers. All meetings must be attended in a private location, with cameras on.
Reviewing the materials ahead of the meeting itself is very important, which can take 1-3 hours, depending on the items on the agenda for that meeting. Community members receive the materials a week prior to the meeting. You will attend a training that will talk more about what you should be looking for as a Community Member Representative and how to assess research projects, but everyone reviews with the same considerations in mind: protecting people who participate in research.
It is also critically important that the information from IRB meetings remain confidential. All IRB members must sign a non-disclosure agreement, and must refrain from using Artificial Intelligence to conduct their materials reviews.
USU provides a modest stipend to its Community Member Representatives. They are the only ones of our regular IRB membership who are paid for coming to meetings! USU pays $100 per meeting attended. Meeting attendance payments are paid out at the end of the academic semester (~ December & June). We ask for at least one year of membership, but hope that you will consider serving for up to three years.
We Would Love to Hear From You
If you are a member of the community, unaffiliated with Utah State University (and no immediate family members with affiliations to Utah State University, which includes being a student, faculty, or staff) and you are interested in learning more about serving on our IRB – let us know! Complete the form below. We’d love to be in touch.