The Human Research Protection Program (HRPP) provides oversight for all research activities involving human participants at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The HRPP is a collective effort of all who participate in the conduct, review, approval, and facilitation of human participants research at UW–Madison. These groups work closely together to ensure the ethical, safe, and legal conduct of human research.
Read more about the HRPP mission.
The HRPP strives to uphold the highest ethical, safety, quality, and regulatory standards in research involving human participants at UW-Madison and its affiliates. The HRPP is also responsible for ensuring compliance with federal regulations, state laws, and institutional policies.
The HRPP:
- promotes the welfare and rights of human research participants
- facilitates excellence in human research, and
- provides education, timely review, and comprehensive monitoring for human research projects.
To safeguard the rights and welfare of human research subjects, UW-Madison adheres to the principles of The Belmont Report, as described here.
As part of the HRPP, the Institutional Review Boards Office is home to two IRBs on campus. These IRBs review all human subject research protocols in accordance with applicable federal regulations, state laws, and local and university policies.
- The Health Sciences IRB: Reviews research protocols involving medical interventions or procedures where medical expertise is required for evaluation.
- The Minimal Risk Research IRB: Reviews research protocols that present minimal risk to subjects, including medical interventions or procedures requiring medical expertise or knowledge of the health care setting and human participants research occurring within the social and behavioral sciences.