The IRB at Bard

The Bard College Institutional Review Board (IRB) is tasked with protecting the safety, welfare, rights, and privacy of all human participants involved in research conducted by faculty, staff, graduate, and undergraduate students at Bard College’s Annandale-On-Hudson campus and
faculty and staff at the Bard Prison Initiative, Bard College Early High Schools, Longy School of Music, and the Bard Graduate Center.

The Bard College IRB is guided by the ethical principles set forth in the Belmont Report and federal regulations (HHS regulations 45 CFR part 46). In accordance with these principles, the IRB strives to create a culture of respect for, and awareness of, the rights and welfare of research participants.  The primary function of the Bard College IRB is to review and approve research involving human subjects prior to the start of data collection. 

What Needs to Be Reviewed?

The Bard College IRB is required to review all research conducted on human subjects and this review must occur prior to the start of data collection.  Federal regulations use the following definitions for Research and Human Subject:

Research is defined as, “A systematic investigation, including research development, testing, and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge.”

Human Subject is defined as a living individual about whom an investigator conducting research: obtains information or biospecimens through intervention or interaction with the individual, and, uses studies, or analyzes the information or biospecimens; or obtains, uses, studies, analyzes, or generates identifiable private information or identifiable biospecimen

Based on these definitions, “scholarly and journalistic activities (e.g., oral history, journalism, biography, literary criticism, legal research, and historical scholarship)” are note be considered human subjects research and therefore not subject to review. At Bard, the majority of faculty and student-led projects conducted within the programs of anthropology, sociology, psychology, human rights, and economics in which information is collected from human participants are subject to IRB review. If you have any questions about whether your project is subject to review, please email the Chair of the IRB ([email protected]) with a brief description of your project, including why you think it may or may not be subject to review.