Human Subjects Protection Program

Does your study involve Human Subjects Research? It’s more than you think!

digital composite of a semi-transparent human figure over mathematical equations, graphs, and other abstract designs

Federal law, DOE policy, and PNNL policy requires protection of human subjects across a broad range of research activities.

This includes the systematic investigation and use of humans, human specimens, or human-derived data to contribute to generalizable knowledge for research purposes. This includes, but is not limited
to, use of:

  • An individual’s personal information
  • Social media data and/or other publicly available datasets
  • Information collected through intervention (e.g., surveys, focus groups, or interviews) or interaction (e.g., use of a device or tool)
  • Publicly available biospecimens
  • Individuals to evaluate environmental alterations, test energy technologies, devices, or products
  • Individuals to investigate human-machine interaction, artificial intelligence, machine learning, or other tools and techniques (e.g., virtual reality or biometric identification techniques)

All human subjects research must be approved by the PNNL Institutional Review Board (IRB) before work begins.

The IRB is an interdisciplinary committee responsible for protecting the rights and welfare of human research subjects (and their data) and minimizing risks of harm. The IRB makes the determination of what is, or is not, human research.

Contacts

For more information, please contact:

Chris Weir
Human Subjects Protection Program Manager
chris.weir@pnnl.gov
(509) 372-7742

Chrissie Noonan
IRB Chair
christine.noonan@pnnl.gov
(509) 372-6768

Mary Lancaster
IRB Vice-Chair
mary.lancaster@pnnl.gov
(509) 375-2333