ESE Internal Review Boards

About ESE IRBs

Per 1 January 2020 Erasmus School of Economics has established Internal Review Boards for both experimental and non-experimental research. These Internal Review Boards (ESE IRB) are organized throughout ERIM and serve all ESE research to evaluate ethical aspects in research proposals of researchers and PhD candidates. This includes both the collection of new data, as well as for instance collecting data from different existing sources and merging them.

In establishing the IRB’s, Erasmus School of Economics supports its faculty to ensure compliance to the principles of research integrity as defined in the Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. Compliance to these principles (Honesty, Scrupulousness, Transparency, Independence and Responsibility) is an obligation and enhances the quality of the research process and outputs. ESE therefore urges the use of IRBs and, in case of doubt, feel free to contact the secretary of the Boards. The principles serve as guidelines for a professional scientific approach.

Please ensure enough time for an assessment by the ESE Internal Review Board and note that approval will not be given to projects retroactively where data collection has already taken place. In certain cases, such as processing (sensitive) personal data, you might have to provide the relevant board with a privacy assessment and a data management plan. They need to be handed in no later than the date of your application for ethical review.

When should I submit an ethics application?

In the following cases, you have to submit an application for ethical review. For more information, guidelines and the appendices, please check the ESE Ethical Review Policy.

  1. Research involving human subjects (see appendix a.)
  2. Collecting and/or processing personal data (see appendix a.)
  3. Potential harm to the researcher, staff and/or participants
  4. Potential conflict of interest
  5. Research design using deception
  6. Covert form of field research
  7. Novel or unusual research methods or tools are used
  8. Use of the Erasmus Behavioral Lab and the ESE-Econlab
  9. When gatekeepers are involved in data collection
  10. When research is conducted outside of the European Union (see appendix b.)
  11. Ethical review requested by the funding body or the journal
Useful links and contact persons

Useful links and contacts