Training & policies

Department Contacts

On this page:

Course on Research Ethics (CORE) Tutorial
Classroom Presentations
Research with Indigenous Peoples
CIHR Ethics Office Education Workbook
Social sciences ethics training
The Ethics Application Repository (TEAR)
Policies and Guidelines

1. Course on Research Ethics (CORE) Tutorial

All researchers including faculty, staff and students are required to complete the TCPS2 tutorial (or the equivalent CITI course) prior to undertaking human research. The TCPS2 tutorial has recently been updated and effective January 24, 2023, SFU requires all researchers to have completed the updated version – TCPS2 CORE-2022 tutorial. This version of the tutorial has been updated to include material from Chapter 9 of the TCPS2, bringing in a specific focus on Indigenous and community based research.

The interactive online tutorial takes approximately four hours to complete and provides an essential orientation to the Tri Council Policy Statement (TCPS2) (2018). It can be completed in your own time and you can enter and exit the tutorial as you have time to work on it.

All SFU-affiliated study team members, including but not limited to, faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, and research staff, applying for ethics approval through the ORE, must complete one of the following: TCPS2 Core Tutorial or one of the Social & Behavioral Research or Biomedical Research courses offered through the CITI Program. All students must complete one of these courses prior to submitting an application for ethics review, and the certificate of completion must be uploaded with the application. SFU faculty and staff are required to complete one of the courses but they do not need to include the certificate with the application.

2. SFU ORE Classroom Presentations

Presentations are available by request for individual departments and courses. Please contact Research Ethics if you are interested.
NOTE: If you are interested in a presentation on research ethics, the ORE requires at least 2 weeks advance notice.

3. Research with Indigenous Peoples

The following two training courses provide guidance on processes and best practices for conducting research involving Indigenous people.

San'yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Online Training

San’yas: Indigenous Cultural Safety (ICS) training is a unique, facilitated on-line training program designed to increase knowledge, enhance self-awareness, and strengthen the skills of those who work both directly and indirectly with Aboriginal people. The goal of the ICS training is to further develop individual competencies and promote positive partnerships. The program was developed by the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) Aboriginal Health Program. The Core ICS training is general, and relevant for foundational learning for many disciplines.

For more information, please visit the SFU webpage: San'yas: Indigenous Cultural Safety Training - Human Resources - Simon Fraser University (sfu.ca)

Ownership, Control, Access and Possession (OCAP)

From the FNIGC website: https://fnigc.ca/
The First Nations principles of OCAP® establish how First Nations’ data and information will be collected, protected, used, or shared. OCAP® is a tool to support strong information governance on the path to First Nations data sovereignty.

Please note that there may be costs associated with taking these training courses. Please enquire within your department / school / faculty for further information.

4. CIHR Ethics Office Education Workbook

The CIHR Ethics Office Education Workbook consists of a Knowledge-to-Action/Ethics framework, and a series of scenarios where an ethics lens is applied and discussed.

The ethics research education resource material is initially intended to assist CIHR’s young investigator and trainee communities to develop the skills, knowledge and attitudes to be able to identify and address the ethical issues inherent in their work throughout the research life cycle.

CIHR Ethics Office Education Workbook

5. Social sciences ethics training

This free online module was created by a team at Macquarie University in Australia to provide ethics training specifically for social scientists. It deals with the distinctive ethical issues that social scientists face in conducting research with human participants. It also has an extensive section on research in Indigenous communities which, although tailored to an Australian context, has insights relevant to Canada.

Register for the Social Sciences Ethics Training module

6. The Ethics Application Repository (TEAR)

This is an open access, online repository of approved ethics application forms and consent statements hosted by the University of Otago. Although the site is hosted in New Zealand, the repository includes ethics applications from researchers in various parts of the world (NZ, Australia, Canada, USA, etc.). It provides an opportunity to read how researchers have articulated ethical principles in their subject area or methodology. You can search the repository by topic and methodology (e.g. "cancer" or "autoethnography").

Access The Ethics Application Repository (TEAR)

7. Policies and Guidelines

International

Nuremberg Code
Declaration of Helsinki

Department Contacts

1. Course on Research Ethics (CORE) Tutorial

2. SFU ORE Classroom Presentations

3. Research with Indigenous Peoples

Ownership, Control, Access and Possession (OCAP)

4. CIHR Ethics Office Education Workbook

5. Social sciences ethics training

6. The Ethics Application Repository (TEAR)

7. Policies and Guidelines

SFU Institutional Policies

British Columbia

Canada

United States