The Institute of Biology has established an Ethics Review Committee (ERC IOBSL) for granting ethical clearance to Biology-related projects. This is to ensure that researchers engage in ethically sound practices in conducting scientific research. All proposed research projects should consider ethical clearance at both the application and implementation stages.
Scope
The ERC IOBSL will grant ethical clearance for biology-related research projects involving both the animals (laboratory and in the field) and human subjects. Applications for biomedical research (biomedical research is defined here as research conducted on clinical samples) should contain sufficient evidence to prove the involvement of appropriate healthcare professionals in the sample collection procedure. Ethical clearance is not granted for clinical research, i.e., research studies performed on patients.
Fee
A non-refundable processing fee is charged per application. Applicants should make a payment of Rs. 5000 for funded research (projects funded by funding agencies such as NSF, JICA, UGC, WHO etc.) or Rs. 2000.00 for non-funded/self-funded projects. The payment should be credited to the account “Institute of Biology, Sri Lanka” (A/C No. 086100141191763) at Peoples Bank, Thimbirigasyaya, and the pay slip should be submitted along with the application.
Application form
Research proposals must be on the prescribed application form which can be downloaded from here.
Guidelines for ERC-IOBSL Applicants
Download application form for Ethical Clearance
Download Summary Sheet
Deadline
The ERC committee meets on the last week of every month and application submission deadline is 15th of the month.
Duration
The regular review process will take 60 days, during which the decision will be conveyed to the applicant. Therefore, the applications should be forwarded before commencing the project allowing sufficient time for review.
Send to
Hard copies: The original copy of the completed and signed “Part III of the Application for Ethics Review” and the summary sheet to be posted to:
The Joint Secretaries, Institute of Biology, “Vidya Mandiraya”, 120/10, Wijerama Mawatha, Colombo 07.
Hard copies sent only by post will be accepted.
Soft copies: Fully completed and signed application along with supporting documents to be scanned and saved as a single PDF (not zipped). The PDF of the application and the Word format of the filled summary sheet should be emailed to erc.iobsl@gmail.com.
Check list for applicants
- Covering letter signed by the applicant
- A receipt for the appropriate payment to IOBSL.
- Completed and signed Application Form – Part II (01 copy)
- Completed and signed Application Form: Part I & III (01 copy)
- Where applicable, the information sheets for research participants
(in all three languages – Sinhala, Tamil, and English) (01 copy) - Where applicable, the consent forms, data collection forms
(in all three languages – Sinhala, Tamil, and English) (01 copy) - Any other relevant documents (Specify)
These documents need to be saved as a single pdf.
- Summary sheet in Word format
Failure to comply with these instructions would result in the application being returned, and/or delay in obtaining ethical clearance.
Members of the Ethics Review Committee
Chairperson: Prof M.J.S. Wijeyaratne
Joint Secretary: Dr. Anushka Wickramasuriya
Joint Secretary: Dr. Vindhya Kulasena
Committee Members:
Prof. M.J.S. Wijeyaratne (Chairman)
Dr. G. A. S. Premakumara
Prof. H. T. R Jayasooriya
Prof. R. Wijesekera
Dr. U. K. G. Padmalal
Dr. J. Jayasekera
Prof. Mayuri Wijesinghe
Dr. Champa Magalla
Prof. C. Wijeyaratne
Dr. M.T.M Mahees
Dr Dineshani Hettiarachchi
Mr. Toefl M. Lankapura