This proposal is requesting short-term interim support for five institutional activities that will have a significant impact in strengthening the oversight of human subjects research at Georgia State University and its partnering institutions. The five activities, which will be sustained after expiration of the award, are as follows: (1) To continue working with the consultants who reviewed the Georgia State University IRB program during the first year of this award to address the several deficiencies identified in that review. (2) To enhance the infrastructure/technology for tracking and managing human subjects protocols by implementing the IRBWISE human subjects web-based IRB management and tracking tool. (3) To develop a system that will ensure privacy, security of data storage, and confidentiality of research conducted on the Internet by implementing the eListen web-based interface that can be used to design, submit and analyze an electronic survey or data collection instrument. (4) To develop a program for strengthening the audit and oversight of IRB approved protocols. The compliance specialists from the four partnering universities have agreed to form a pool of reviewers that will audit each other's institutions currently active and continuing review protocols. (5) To enhance the oversight of human subjects research at the University System of Georgia institutions that currently have limited compliance support infrastructure by making the online training in social and behavioral sciences research available to all the schools requiting training materials for their researchers. Together, these five activities will significantly improve the quality of the systems that protect the tights and welfare of individuals who participate in research conducted by Georgia State University and our partnering institutions researchers. The outcomes of these activities will become embedded in each institution's conduct of research with human subjects ensuring they are sustained after the award period ends. The goal is to ensure that when researchers conduct research using human participants, they do so using the highest ethical standards.
