1) The Chair nominated by the Provost;
2) One representative from each school of the University, nominated by the Dean of the corresponding School;
3) One representative of the Private Institution “National Laboratory Astana”, nominated by the NLA General Director;
4) One representative of the Faculty Senate appointed following the internal procedures of the NU Faculty Senate;
5) Eight members nominated by the Provost according to their competencies;
6) An independent expert who is not an employee or relative of an employee of the University, nor does he or she have a professional relationship with the University.

The Committee reserves the right to propose additional members to the Committee on the recommendation of the Chair to share the workload associated with membership.
The Committee elects the Deputy Chair from among its members. The Deputy Chair shall act as Chair if the Chair is absent or declares a conflict of interest with the PI and the Initiator.
Members of the Committee are appointed for a three-year term, after which they can be reassigned for a similar period.
The Chair and members of the Committee have the right to voluntarily step down from membership in the Committee with a notification to the Chair and the Secretary of the Committee one month before the planned withdrawal.

The current NU IREC Roster, approved by the Research Council on June 11, 2024, can be found here.

NU requires its ethics committee members, principal investigators, and all participating staff to complete the relevant Collaborative Institutional Training Institute (CITI) web-based training program.
Access the CITI training and click on New Users Register Here; this will take you to the Course Registration page. Select Nazarbayev University from the dropdown list of Participating Institutions. Enter your name and NU-issued email address for CITI training. For best results, use your NU email address as the Preferred Email. Once you have provided the registration information, you’ll be led through a series of screening questions to determine which training modules are appropriate for your specific research program.

NOTE: If you have recently completed CITI training at a different institution, you can add NU as a participating institution to transfer your training credit. Follow the instructions on the CITI website for adding an additional institution and changing your username and preferred email. If you have completed ethics training that you think may substitute for completing the CITI program, please provide a record of your training to the NU IREC secretariat for consideration.

NOTE: For non-NU project collaborators who do not have an NU email account, there are several alternative options available to comply with ethics training requirements:
§ CITI training by affiliation with Nazarbayev University:
o The non-NU collaborators should register on the CITI platform using either their personal or other alternative email addresses.
o When prompted to Select Your Organization Affiliation, enter Nazarbayev University.
o Check I AGREE to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy for accessing CITI Program materials and I affirm that I am an affiliate of Nazarbayev University, and finally Create a CITI Program Account.
o The last step of the registration will ask for the NU email address. You can enter your personal or other alternative email address in the *Institutional email address window even though the system recommends providing an email address issued by Nazarbayev University or an approved affiliate, and press Continue.
o On the next page, you will be able to Select Curriculum. For the first question check either one of the first two options depending on your field of research (Biomedical Research Investigators or Social & Behavioral Research Investigators). For the remaining questions, select either Not at this time, thank you or whichever courses are of interest, then Submit.
o The next page will display the Courses Ready to Begin. Press Start Now for the research ethics course you have chosen.
o Once completed, take the quiz. If a passing result is achieved, the CITI platform will provide you with a certificate of completion.

§ CITI training by affiliation with another university if that university has access to the CITI platform.
§ Alternative ethics training courses through the Training and Resources in Research Ethics Evaluation (TRREE) website. Please note that this training was approved only for student-level collaborators and non-PI-level researchers.

Appendix A: IREC Application Form (.doc, .pdf)
Appendix B: Written Informed Consent Form Template
Appendix C: Informed Consent Form Template for Internet Surveys
Appendix D: Oral Consent Script
Appendix E: Assent Form Template
Appendix F: Request for Continuing IREC Approval Form
Appendix G: NU IREC Protocol Amendment Form
Appendix H: Adverse/Unanticipated Event Reporting Form
Appendix I: NU IREC Consultation Form
Appendix J: Glossary of Common NU IREC Terminology
Appendix K: Request for Deferral of NU IREC Oversight Form
Appendix L: Confidentiality Agreement Form
Appendix M: Written Informed Consent Form For Genetic and/or Biobank Research
Appendix N: Declaration of the End of Data Collection Form
Appendix O: Course-Based Research Application Form

Section 7. The list of requirements for submission of applications to NU IREC:
The NU IREC handles a number of different types of application submissions.

7.1 NU IREC Application - used for any study that is being considered for initial review and approval and should include the following documents, as applicable:
7.1.1 NU IREC Application Form in English.
7.1.2 Written Informed Consent Form in English and in the official language(s) of the country, where the project will be held.
7.1.3 Informed Consent Form for Internet Surveys in English and in the official language(s) of the country, where the project will be held (if applicable).
7.1.4 Oral Consent Script in English and in the participants’ preferred language (if applicable).
7.1.5 Assent Form in English and in the participants’ preferred language (if applicable).
7.1.6 Written Informed Consent Form For Genetic and/or Biobank Research in English and in the participants’ preferred language (if applicable).
7.1.7 Confidentiality Agreement Form in English in the participants’ preferred language (if applicable). The form is submitted to protect information exchange between the PI and external collaborators. A person signing a confidentiality agreement guarantees to keep the research participants’ information secure.
7.1.8 CITI Training or an approved alternative certificate, which shows that you passed a course on human ethics subjects. All research project members listed in the application need to have a relevant research ethics training certification valid at least for the duration of the requested approval (one year).

All study-related materials referenced within the protocol should be included with the application form. Below is a list of commonly attached documents, that have to be submitted in English and in the participants’ preferred language, as applicable:
1. Recruitment materials (flyers, emails, oral scripts, etc.)
2. Letters of support or approval from outside organizations
3. Surveys/questionnaires
4. Visual stimuli that will be presented to participants
5. Debriefing documents

NOTE: All application documents have to be named according to the NU IREC protocol (Part 11 of the NU IREC application form).

NU IREC Application Language Requirements: As of November 2020, the NU IREC follows these requirements regarding the language of the submitted documentation:
1. All research at Nazarbayev University (using faculty, students, and staff as participants) may be conducted in English language only and all documents can be submitted in English only, given that the NU is an English language medium of instruction university.
2. For all research being conducted within Kazakhstan, the application form will be provided in English; the informed consent - in English, Russian, and Kazakh for the context of Kazakhstan, and any other languages, as appropriate to the research; and for the instruments (recruitment materials, surveys/questionnaires, etc.) - in English and the preferred language(s) of the participants.
3. For all other research conducted outside of Kazakhstan, the application form will be provided in English, while the informed consent, and the instruments - in English and in the official language(s) of the country, where the data will be collected.

7.2 Request for Continuing NU IREC Approval Form – NU IREC approval is given for 12 months, with a request for an extension required at the end of the approval period. PIs requesting the continuation of a study beyond four years (after three extensions) will be required to submit a new application.

7.3 NU IREC Protocol Amendment Form – is used to request approval of any modification to the currently approved protocol(s) and/or consent processes. The form is only considered after a project has received initial review and approval as a new study.

7.4 Request for Deferral of NU IREC Oversight Form – is submitted when the NU faculty and/or their NU collaborators receive ethical approval at another institution, which will serve as IRB of record for NU. To receive such deferral, the principal investigator must submit a complete application package and a copy of the approval from another university.

7.5 Declaration of the End of Data Collection Form – is used if data collection ceases at any stage during or at the end of the approval period. Once the End of Data Collection Report has been accepted by NU IREC, no further reporting to NU IREC is required, unless there is an unexpected adverse event or a data management change/breach.

7.6 Adverse/Unanticipated Event Reporting Form – is used in case of unexpected events related or possibly related to the research that places subjects or others at a greater risk of physical or psychological harm. These unanticipated events must be reported promptly to the NU IREC following its policy.

7.7 NU IREC Consultation Form – NU IREC members are available to consult with faculty, staff, and students regarding their research projects.

NOTE: All applications should be submitted to the NU IREC Secretariat at resethics@nu.edu.kz, submissions sent to any other NU email address will not be processed.

NOTE: The application should be completed in terminology readily understood by a layperson. The NU IREC recommends readability tools to assist in the process (You can read more about it at readable.com).

For Windows users:
Go to File > Options > Proofing.
When correcting spelling and grammar in Word, make sure the Check grammar with spelling box is selected. Select Show readability statistics.
After you enable this feature, open a file that you want to check, by pressing F7 or going to Review > Spelling & Grammar. When Word finishes checking the spelling and grammar, it displays information about the reading level of the document.
Important: You must correct or Ignore all errors found in the document before the readability statistics will display.

For Mac users:
Open Word > Click on the tab that says Word (next to the Apple logo on the upper left side) > Preferences > Spelling and Grammar. Under Grammar, make sure to check the Show Readability Statistics box. Click the X to close the tab.
To display document statistics, click on Tools in the top menu bar > Spelling and Grammar > Editor > Documents stats in the Insights section on the bottom right of your page.

If your research cannot be understood, the application will be returned with a request for additional information or simplified language. Delays occur when the requested information is not provided in the application.

IREC Members: Roles, Responsibilities, and Purpose
IREC 101
Developing into an Experienced Member
Online Education
The Full Board Meeting
Types of IREC Review: Exempt, Expedited, and Full Board
IREC Review Process
Investigator Reporting Responsibilities
The full version of Guidelines for NU IREC members “What it takes to be an IREC member. A Resource Handbook“.