JNU is a research university which takes pride in exploring the frontier areas of knowledge and research. A number of studies pursued in JNU involve participation of human subjects. Speech and language deficit in cases of neurological damage, aphasia studies, dyslexia and developmental disorders of language, SLI, acquisition in children with normal / delayed onset of speech and language, heritability of voice patterns etc are some of the areas being currently pursued. The National Centre of Applied Human Genetics at SLS and number of other Centres/Schools have a number of projects involving human subjects. In view of the above, JNU Executive Council vide its resolution no. 5.3. dated 3/09/08 approved the constitution of Institutional Ethics Review Board (IERB-JNU) to review all research proposals involving human subjects, submitted by faculty members and research students.
 

Orientation Program: a report

 

Constitution of IERB

 
Institutional Ethics Review Board for research on Human subjects was constituted vide resolution no. 5.3 of the Executive Council meeting held on 3rd Sept 2008, as per ICMR guidelines, to review all research proposals submitted by the faculty members and also M.Phil / Ph.D research involving human participants. The tenure of the Chairperson and the Member- Secretary is five years while for the members on the panel is three years from the date of appointment.

 

A.  Constitution of IERB- JNU as approved by the JNU EC is as follows:

      1. Chairperson

      2. Scientist from Medical Practice (External)

      3. Scientist from Basic Sciences (External)

      4. Scientist from Basic Sciences (Internal, JNU)

      5. Social Scientist / Philosopher / Social Activist (External)

      6. Social Scientist / Philosopher / Social Activist (Internal, JNU)

      7. Advisor, Member of ethics review board of another Institution (ICMR, AIIMS, ICGEB )

      8. Legal Advisor (External)

      9. Legal Advisor (Internal, JNU)

    10. Lay Persons (one or two)

    11. Member - Secretary (JNU)

                                                      

A panel of names in each one of these categories was also approved by the EC in the same meeting of the 3rd Sept 2008, as per ICMR guidelines for research on human subjects. Since 2008 several project proposals and M.Phil/ Ph.D research proposals were reviewed by committees constituted by the Chairperson involving at least one person from each category as specified in A above.

A fresh panel of names in each one of the categories was approved by the EC in its meeting held on 5th April 2011, vide resolution number 6.22.  Since the Chairperson, Prof R.N.K.Bamezai has joined MVDTU, Jammu as Vice Chancellor, the name of Prof Shiv K.Sarin, Director, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, is approved as Chairperson for a period of five years from the date of appointment. Prof R.N.K.Bamezai continues to be a member of the IERB as indicated in category 4 below, i. e. as Researcher from Basic sciences (internal). For the sake of continuity the panel also includes names of some of the earlier members for another term.  Every category has a panel of four to five names so that at least one from each category may be included while constituting a committee for a specific project review meeting.

 

 

B.  Panel of names approved for appointment to IERB- JNU vide Resolution no. 6.22/ EC/5.4.2011:

 

1. Chairperson  

    Prof S.K.Sarin, Director, Institute for Liver & Biliary Sciences, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi.

 

2. Scientist from Medical Practice (external)

    1.  Prof Madhuri Behari, Head, Dept of Neurosciences, AIIMS, ND-110029.

    2.   Prof Mahesh Arora, Professor of Anaesthesia, AIIMS, ND-110029

    3.   Prof S.C. Malik, Former Prof of Psychiatry, LHMC, ND-110001.

    4.   Dr. V. Jha, Dept of Nephrology, PGIMER, Chandigarh.

 

3. Basic Sciences / Researchers (external)

     1. Prof Vijay Kumar, ICGEB, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi-110067.

     2. Prof Anil Tyagi, University of Delhi, South Campus,  New Delhi- 110029

     3. Dr. Girish Sahni, Director, IMTECH, Chandigarh.

     4. Prof Narayanan Srinivasan, CBCS, University of Allahabad.

     5. Prof Ramesh Juyal, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi-110067.

              

4. Basic Sciences / Researchers (internal, JNU)

     1. Prof V K Jain, SES

     2. Prof Rajiv Bhat, SBT

     3. Prof B.N. Malik, SLS

     4. Prof Akhilesh Pandey, SPS

     5. Prof R.N.K.Bamezai, SLS, JNU

 

5.  Social Scientist /Philosopher/ Activist (ext)

      1. Dr. D. Raghunandan, Delhi Science Society, New Delhi

      2. Prof Kusum Chopra, Former Professor, CSRD, JNU.

      3. Prof Arvind Agrawal, Dean, Humanities, Central University, HP, Dharamsala.

      4. Prof Ravinder Gargesh, Professor of Linguistics, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007.

 

6. Social Scientist /Philosopher / Activist (int. JNU)

     1.Prof Gulshan Dietl, CWAS, SIS

     2. Prof Yogesh Kumaar Tyagi, CILS, SIS

     3. Prof Sabaree Mitra, CC&SEAS, SLL&CS

     4. Prof Geetha Nambissan, ZHCES, SSS

     5. Dr. Ayesha Kidwai, CL, SLL&CS.

 

7. Advisor / Members of the ethics review board of other institutions (ext):

     1. Dr Tripti Khanna, Dy Director, ICMR, New Delhi-110029

     2. Dr. Sunil Mittal, Member, Ethics Review Committee, COSMOS Hospitals, New Delhi.

     3. Dr. Raj Kamal Bhatnagar, ICGEB, New Delhi-110067.

     4. Dr. Rakesh Yadav, Dept of Cardiology, AIIMS.  Member, Ethics Committee, Escorts.

 

8.  Legal Advisor (ext)

     1.  Advocate Shashank Shekhar,

     2.  Advocate Omika Dubey

     3.  Advocate Rukhsana Chaudhary

     4.  Advocate Bulbul Das

 

9.  Legal Advisor (internal, JNU)

     1. Prof Amita Singh, CSLG, JNU

     2. Abha Yadav, Legal Cell, JNU

 

10.  Lay persons:

In case the study involves children then a parent, or guardian of a child, teacher in a special school etc. may be invited. In case the study on the agenda involves adults then the Chairperson, IERB may involve any one at his discretion (Discretion of the Chairperson of IERB).

 

11.  Member Secretary

        Prof. Vaishna narang, CL, SLL&CS, JNU

 

 

 

Tenure :

Every member in the panel will have a tenure of three years, after which a fresh panel of three names in the same category will be submitted to the EC, JNU so that one out of the three may be appointed in place of the retiring person. For the sake of continuity the Chairperson and the Member- Secretary will have a term of five years.           

 

 

Terms of Appointment

As per ICMR guidelines, the appointee will be informed of the rights and duties of the committee. and that the external members will receive honorarium for every consultative meeting held on the campus.

 

Process

The ERC will meet at least once in two months/twice every semester or more if required, to review all the applications including proposals for M.Phil/Ph.D. research; also including research proposals submitted by the faculty involving human subjects for any kind of data.  The internal members of the committee will screen the proposals before they are circulated to the external members. The presence of Minimum five persons including the Chairperson and Member Secretary will be mandatory to conduct a meeting.

 

Certificate

Once the IERB is satisfied that the study is in no way harmful to the subjects under study, the committee will issue an Ethical Clearance Certificate, valid for the period of study specified.

 

The committee will also advise the researcher about the "informed consent" to be obtained from the subjects, and "confidentiality" to be maintained vis-a-vis subjects.