All applications are approved with standard conditions of approval. In addition to the standard conditions of approval, investigators must comply with the below, as well as ensuring any further specific conditions of approval are met prior to the research or activity commencing:
All research and teaching activities involving animals are approved subject to compliance with monitoring procedures as defined by The Australian Code for the Care and Use of Animals in Research. Monitoring is the process of verifying that the conduct of research or activity conforms to the approved ethics application.
Institutions are responsible for ensuring that the research or activity is reliably monitored and establishing that a research project or activity is being, or has been, conducted in the manner approved by the Ethics Committee. The Code affirms that “the AEC must monitor all activities relating to the care and use of animals on a regular and ongoing basis to assess compliance with the Code and the AEC.” (section 2.3.18)
Monitoring for approved animal ethics projects involves completion of an annual progress report (if your project is longer than one year), completion of a final report at the end of your project, welfare monitoring forms, and potentially post-approval monitoring by an independent party. The AEC decides on a case-by-case basis if post-approval monitoring is required.
An Annual Statistical Return is also required to comply with the regulations under the WA Animal Welfare Act. Guidelines are available to assist with completing the Annual Statistical Return.
You will be notified when a report is due and will need to complete you report in your REMS Portal. Click on the report icon for the appropriate project and click on the online reporting system. If your research project was approved in STREAM you will need to download the Ethics Report Form and email to the Research Ethics Team. The same form can be used for either an annual progress report or a final report.
The Ethics Committees also reserve the right to adopt any additional appropriate mechanism for monitoring approved research projects.
All research projects are approved for a specified period of time – from the date of approval until the date of completion provided in the ethics application.
Ethics approval covers both the collection and use/analysis of data, information and/or samples. Researchers should ensure that the period of time requested for ethics approval is sufficient.
If an extension of the approval period is required, a request must be submitted to the Animal Ethics Committee – before the original approval expires. Please note, the Committee does not extend projects for more than 1 year per request. The only exception being when tissue or samples have already been collected and stored.
To request an extension of ethics approval for research approved in STREAM, please download and complete the Ethics Report Form form and send it to the Research Ethics Team.
To request an extension of ethics approval for research approved in REMS, please submit this through your REMS portal by clicking on the report icon for the appropriate project and entering the online reporting system.
Please complete the required sections of the form with clear reasons why the extension is needed and giving the new expected date of completion. If your ongoing project has already collected tissue/specimens and/or wants to hold these for an extended period of time, you may be exempt from applying for an extension provided no new specimens will be collected. Please indicate in your annual report if you are holding tissue or specimens collected under a valid permit and will not be collecting any new specimens or tissue samples.
The Ethics Committee understands that research designs do change, particularly for long-term projects. Amendments to the research design that may affect the welfare of the animals and/or that may have ethical implications must be reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee before commencement.
To request approval for a change for research approved in STREAM, please complete the Amendment to an Approved Animal Ethics Project form and send it to the Research Ethics Team.
To request approval for a change for research approved in REMS, please submit this through your REMS portal by clicking on the report icon for the appropriate project and entering the online reporting system.
The form can be used to request approval for both minor and major amendments.
An adverse event is any event that has a negative impact on the wellbeing of an animal.
An unexpected adverse event is an event that may have negative impact on the wellbeing of animals and was not foreshadowed in the approved project or activity. For example, death of an animal, or group of animals, that was not expected (e.g. during surgery or anaesthesia, or after a procedure or treatment).
An unexpected adverse event may result from different causes, including but not limited to:
Investigators are required to immediately report unexpected adverse events to the Animal Ethics Committee most appropriately within 24 to 48 hrs of the event. The Committee understand that field work being done in remote locations may experience delays in reporting. This immediate action should comprise of an email notification to the Research Ethics Team and later followed by the completion and submission of the Adverse Event Report form.
If the event is of a serious nature, the researcher/investigator should immediately consider the temporary suspension of research or activity until the situation has been investigated by the Animal Ethics Committee.
Investigators must also immediately report unforeseen events that might affect continued ethical acceptability of the project
All unexpected animal research adverse events need to be reported to the Research Ethics Team.
If your research was approved in STREAM you will need to report using the Adverse Event Report Form. If your research was approved in REMS you will need to complete your adverse event report in your REMS portal. Click on the report icon for the apporpriate project and enter the online reporting systems.
This reporting needs to take place as soon as practicable after the event occurs and should also form part of your project’s annual and final reporting.
If a serious unexpected adverse event has occurred, your project activity may immediately be suspended while the event is investigated by the Animal Ethics Committee. Historically most unexpected adverse events have been less serious in nature and only required minor amendments to rectify.
Should you require further guidance please contact the Research Ethics Team.
Delays in reporting an adverse incident or event may result further impacts, such as: