Established on 1 July 2017, the Departments of Defence and Veterans’ Affairs Human Research Ethics Committee (DDVA HREC) is the institutional ethics committee for Defence and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA). The DDVA HREC is registered with:

• National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) (EC00460)
• Office for Human Research Protections in the United States as an Institutional Review Board (IORG0007579).

The purpose of the DDVA HREC is to provide expert review of human research proposals submitted for ethical approval. 

Research proposals involving humans will be reviewed by the DDVA HREC where one or more of the following apply:

• Participants are or include Defence members, other Defence personnel (as a specific study group or sub-group), their information (data) and/or tissue.
• Participants are recruited, either directly or indirectly, through a service provided by Defence or DVA.
• The research is to be conducted by Defence or DVA personnel in the course of their employment.
• The research is to be conducted on/in a Defence establishment.
• The research is sponsored, endorsed or funded in any part by Defence or DVA. 

For further information refer to the DDVA HREC Terms of Reference.

DDVA HREC Terms of Reference (PDF, 210.86 KB)