News

A gentle reminder to all UPOU stakeholders that UPOU IREC’s submission deadline  for ethics review for the year 2025 is until December 16. We will resume on the 2nd of January 2026. Thank you and stay safe.  

Tagaytay City, Cavite — Following its achievement of Full Level 2 Accreditation from the Philippine Health Research Ethics Board (PHREB), the UP Open University Institutional Research Ethics Committee (UPOU IREC), along with representatives from its Faculties of Study Research Ethics Subcommittees, conducted a two-day training on revising its Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Held on November 28-29, 2024 in  Tagaytay City , the workshop focused on refining the Committee’s SOPs in alignment with national and international research ethics guidelines. The workshop aimed to review the existing SOPs, identify necessary revisions, and draft updates to enhance consistency, transparency, and quality in the ethical review [...]

The University of the Philippines Open University Institutional Research Ethics Committee (UPOU IREC), in collaboration with the Faculties of Study, recently spearheaded a comprehensive training workshop on research ethics, focusing on basic research ethics and the Committee’s Standard Operating Procedures, and ethics review processes. The Committee piloted the training workshop to the Faculty of Education, Faculty of Management and Development Studies, and Faculty of Information and Communication Studies on  6-7 May 2024, 19-20 September 2024 and 14-15 October 2024, respectively.  The two-day hybrid workshops aimed to equip each faculty member and researcher with an in-depth understanding of foundational research ethical principles, [...]

The University of the Philippines Open University Institutional Research Ethics Committee (UPOU IREC) formally received its certificate of accreditation from the Philippine Health Research Ethics Board (PHREB) at the 42nd Anniversary Celebration of the Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD) held on 25 March 2024 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), Pasay City with the theme, “Forging the Future@42: Strengthening Health Research Capacities through Dynamic Partnerships”. The UPOU IREC has been recognized as an awardee within the Level 2 category. It is one of the accredited RECs across the country signifying its [...]

The University of the Philippines Open University Institutional Research Ethics Committee (UPOU IREC) has been granted Full Level 2 Accreditation by the Philippine Health Research Ethics Board (PHREB) on 6 November 2024, valid until 24 January 2027. On 25 January  2024, the Committee received a Provisional Level 2 Accreditation, which is valid until 24 January 2025. After months of dedicated work and commitment to fulfilling all accreditation requirements, the Committee is pleased to have achieved this significant milestone. As a Level 2 accredited REC, the Committee is authorized to review research protocols involving human participants. Level 2 accreditation allows the review [...]

In conjunction with the implementation of the Memorandum No. OVPAA 2020-145 issued by the UP System in 2020, the UPOU Institutional Research Ethics Committee, would like to solicit feedback from stakeholders on the most recent version of the UPOU IREC Standard Operating Procedures in order to improve the clarity, feasibility, and completeness of our policies and procedures. UPOU IREC conducted the Standard Operating Procedures Consultation Meeting with Stakeholders last 23 September,  and 7 - 14 November 2022 via online. Check out the recordings here: Initial Submissions Recording 1 SOP Files 1 Post-Clearance Submissions Recording 2 SOP Files 2 [...]

UPOU-IREC receives its Level 1 Accreditation to PHREB during the 39th Anniversary of DOST-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development