ABMDR is a non-profit organisation that seeks to facilitate both health care and research.
All research applications go through an operational and ethical review to ensure protection of the welfare, rights, dignity and safety of research participants and researchers. Once a research project has been approved, cost recovery fees are charged for all expenses associated with the conduct of the research. There are no fees to submit a research application to the ABMDR.
Research applications must be submitted to ABMDR Research by the application deadlines shown in the calendar.
Low or negligible risk (LNR) applications
Research projects considered as LNR research, as defined in the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research – Risk and Benefit, require the following application documents:
- ABMDR Research Application for Ethics Assessment
- Low Risk Ethics Application
- Research Protocol
- Summary of the research in lay language
Full application
Research projects that involve more than LNR will go through the full review process. The following application documents must be submitted:
- ABMDR Research Application for Ethics Assessment
- Human Research Ethics Application (HREA)
The HREA can be accessed as a guest or as a registered user. Registering an account enables researchers to save applications in the system and to share applications with collaborators.
Follow this link to get access to users guide and other resources.
- Research Protocol
- Copy of approval from researchers’ own institution’s Ethics Committee
- TGA clinical trial notification (if required)
- Participant Information Form (if required)
- Participant engagement email and telephone scripts
International researchers
ABMDR also welcomes research applications from transplant and donor centre members of the World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA). Research applications from these international centres require the following documents in English:
- Letter of request outlining the planned research and what is required from the ABMDR and its donors
- Copy of the research protocol or a summary of the research proposal
- Donor information and consent pro-forma
- Evidence of ethical approval from local committees
Review and approval process
ABMDR’s review of research applications looks to appropriately manage ABMDR’s limited resources and respond to potential risks. Researchers are responsible for managing all approved research projects, independent of the level of risks, regarding amendments, reporting requirements and record keeping. ABMDR research evaluation is based on the requirements of:
- National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research
- Privacy Act 1988
- Guidelines under Section 95 of the Privacy Act 1988
All research should be conducted in accordance with these standards. The ethical assessment is conducted by the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood Ethics Committee. Initial ethics approval is for a period of three years, subject on meeting the reporting requirements.
Once approved, ABMDR requires regular progress reports from the researchers, as well as a report on the research findings and appropriate attribution. Any modifications to the research proposal must also be approved by ABMDR.
If you have any questions, please contact ABMDR Research.
Complaints
If a research project participant, researcher or staff of the institution involved in the research want to report a concern or a complaint, please contact ABMDR Research and provide details about the issue.