Institutional Review Board
At Butler University, responsibility for overseeing the policies and procedures for the protection of human subjects in research resides with the Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs. Relevant functions and responsibilities include the development of an institutional policy, establishment of procedures to ensure protection for human subjects in research, continuing education of personnel with respect to the policy, modification of the policy to maintain its conformity with laws and regulations, and provisions of appropriate administrative support and legal assistance for the IRB. Management of compliance and maintenance of records also occurs under the aegis of the Office of the Provost, within the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP).
The IRB is the institutional body that governs the procedures to be used in research with humans, including protocol approvals as well as suspensions and terminations. The board ensures compliance with the Code of Federal Regulations and the Federal wide Assurance, a declaration of compliance for the protection of human subjects in research. Butler IRB members are appointed by the Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs for three-year staggered terms.
Any research involving human participants that is conducted by faculty, staff, or students at Butler University must be submitted for review to the IRB. Similarly, any research conducted on the property of Butler University, regardless of the affiliation of the researcher, must be submitted for review. Review and approval by an IRB at another institution does not constitute an exemption from review by the Butler University IRB.
Human subjects research is defined as a systematic investigation designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge. Human subjects are living individuals about whom an investigator obtains identifiable private information or data through an intervention or interaction. Research includes questionnaires, interviews, tests, observations, surveys, and other experiments under the auspices of the University.
All application forms including necessary backup documentation should be submitted to the Office of Sponsored Programs as a combined single pdf to IRB@butler.edu.
- IRB Application for Exemption of a Project Involving Human Subjects
- IRB Application for Expedited Approval or Full Approval
- IRB Application Form for Accepting Approval of another Institution’s IRB
- IRB Continuing Review/Closure Form (for submissions prior to January 21, 2019)
- IRB Assent Form template
- IRB Consent Form template
- IRB Children as Research Participants form
All investigators are required to complete the IRB training prior research activity through the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI). Following investigators’ initial training, refresher courses must be taken every three years. Each module may take from 10 to 30 minutes to complete, and most contain a quiz. The modules do not have to be completed all in one session.
- If the investigator is mainly engaged in biomedical research, he or she must complete the Biomedical Researcher CITI component.
- If the investigator is mainly engaged in social or behavioral research, he or she must complete the Social/Behavioral Educational Researcher CITI component.
- Student researchers must complete the Student Researcher Course of CITI training.
If you have done CITI education for another organization, add Butler to your profile. You will be given credit for your previous courses to the extent they overlap with Butler’s requirements.
Click here to view CITI training instructions for students.
Click here to view CITI training instructions for faculty/staff.
- William Fisher, JCA (August 2025)
- Karina Hamamouche, LAS (August 2027)
- Suneeta Kercood, COE (August 2027)
- Joel Martin, LAS, Chair (August 2025)
- Kate Novak, LAS (August 2026)
- Cody Sasek, COPHS (August 2027)
- Julie Searcy, LAS (August 2027)
- Sofia Souto, CCOM (August 2027)
- Stephanie Woerner, community member (August 2025)
- Chi Zhang, LSB (August 2027)