Overview

The iRIS™ electronic IRB submission, review and management system was designed for UCF researchers including faculty, staff and students who do human subjects research.  Adjunct professors, emeritus faculty and those assigned a courtesy appointment should specify that designation in the application form under “Project Information”.   New submissions must be routed for approval/electronic signature to the UCF person of authority (Department Chair or Institute /Center Director) who is ultimately responsible for the conduct of the research and UCF liability.  Researchers who have no formal affiliation with UCF cannot gain access to the system and enter themselves as the Principal Investigator.

Investigators who have an ARGIS or PARIS username and password should be able to log into iRIS™ using the same username and password.  Students and faculty performing unfunded research may not have an ARGIS/PARIS user account.  An iRIS user account can be obtained by completing, signing and submitting the iRIS User Account Form to the IRB office. This form may be faxed to the IRB at 407-823-3299 or attached in an email to irb@mail.ucf.edu.

Doctoral students doing dissertation research/class projects and Master’s students working on their thesis research/class projects may enter themselves as the Principal Investigator, but a faculty advisor is required, and the submission must be routed to the faculty advisor for approval as well as the Department Chair or Institute/Center Director.  The Principal Investigator for undergraduate research should be the instructor, professor or faculty advisor most directly involved in the research.  Undergraduate students directly involved in the research, particularly having contact with participants, should be listed as Co-PIs.

No Principal Investigator may sign off as department approval for his or her own research.  The submission must be routed for approval as suggested above.   If in doubt, contact the IRB Office for guidance.

If the Principal Investigator wants someone else (for example, a research assistant) to also receive iRIS email correspondence and automatic notifications, that person’s name must be entered as the “Contact” person. 

Research assistants or students may enter a new initial application in an “author role” and list the faculty researcher as the Principal Investigator. By stopping short of signing and submitting, the Draft version may be reviewed by the Principal Investigator or faculty advisor.  This will help researchers who have assistants do basic entry regarding a new study.  This process will also help faculty who want to review and critique students’ work on the application prior to IRB submission.  The instructor may then either make the changes within iRIS™ and submit the application or send an email to the student advising him/her of the needed changes.  

CITI training (or NIH, if applicable)  in the protection of human participants in research is required for all researchers prior to approval for a new study or continuing review.  This training must have been taken within the last three years to be in effect and must be refreshed every three years.  See Education and Training for more details.

iRIS™ Application Highlights

• Paperless web-based application
• Uses same username and password as My Research, ARGIS and PARIS
• Application Branching – PI will only be asked relevant questions for each submission
• Automatic notifications are sent to researchers via email
• All student research that involves human participants will be processed thru iRIS™, with faculty advisor review and approval
• Researchers have complete access to their IRB submissions 
• Track Status – including past IRB history, Important Dates
• Create and submit other online forms (Addendums, Adverse Events,
•    Unanticipated Problems, Continuing Reviews, Terminations)
• Electronically routes submission for required signatures