AIHW Ethics Committee

AIHW Ethics committee members   

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Ethics Committee is established under section 16(1) of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Act 1987. The Committee is required to advise on the ethical acceptability of AIHW activities involving information which can identify a person ('identifiable data'). The Ethics Committee considers applications:

• by AIHW units and collaborating units to commence new collections of unit record data or to change the scope of content of existing collections;
• by AIHW units and collaborating units to link datasets for the purposes of analysis; and
• by external researchers for access to identifiable data held by the AIHW which they wish to link with their research data.

Refer to the AIHW Ethics Committee background and practice document (75KB DOC) for further information on the AIHW Ethics Committee.

2013 meeting dates

The Ethics Committee generally meets once a quarter.

To enable the Ethics Committee to give effective consideration to all applications please observe the following deadlines for papers to be received at the Institute.

NOTE: Applications received after the due date will be held over to the next Committee meeting.

• 1st quarter meeting: 26 February 2013 (papers due by 21 January 2013)
• 2nd quarter meeting: 28 May 2013 (papers due by 22 April 2013)
• 3rd quarter meeting: 3 September 2013 (papers due by 29 July 2013)
• 4th quarter meeting: 12 November 2013 (papers due by 8 October2013)

Note: Any of these dates are subject to change and deadlines should be checked with the Institute prior to applications being submitted.

Ethics Committee applications: forms and guidance

AIHW Ethics Committee application form

From 9 January 2013, this form is to be used by AIHW staff, staff from collaborating units undertaking work as part of an AIHW work program and external applicants seeking linkage with AIHW data, e.g. with the National Death Index.

Please note: from 1 October 2012 the administration fee for applications from external researchers is $600.00 (plus GST).

To lodge an application for consideration by the AIHW Ethics Committee in 2013, please sign into EthOS.

• How to lodge an application using EthOS

National Ethics Application Form (NEAF)

• The National Ethics Application Form  

Where a researcher has submitted (and had approved) a NEAF application to another Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC), then it should be submitted to support an AIHW application.

NEAF is a dynamic tool designed to assist researchers to complete proposals for submission to an HREC and to assist HRECs to consistently and efficiently evaluate the proposal.

For further information on the NEAF please refer to the Quick reference map (PDF).

Amendments to projects previously approved by the AIHW Ethics Committee

Once a research project receives approval from the AIHW Ethics Committee, any subsequent amendments (or changes) to that research project must be approved by the Committee before they are implemented. Penalties apply for not seeking that approval, including possible withdrawal of access to AIHW supplied data. To submit a request for approval of an amendment, please complete the Amendment request form [60KB DOC] .

Request for amendments can be submitted for any meeting of the Ethics Committee (see above for due dates for submission of the request).

Note: Requests received after the due date will be held over to the next Committee meeting.

For further advice contact the Ethics Manager: tel. (02) 6244 1123, email

Monitoring reports: annual and final

It is a legislative and ethical requirement that once a research project receives approval from the AIHW Ethics Committee, it continues to be monitored until completion (completion includes the time taken to disseminate the results of the research, e.g. publication as a report or journal paper).

Annual (routine) monitoring reports

If your research project received Ethics Committee approval prior to 31 December 2012, then you will be contacted by a member of the Ethics Secretariat to remind you of the due date for the reports (usually on an annual basis on the anniversary of the approval date). Use this report template: Routine (annual) monitoring report [44KB DOC].

If you submitted your application after 9 January 2013, then the EthOS system will automatically send you a reminder notice 10 months from the date of approval and again at 11 months from the date of approval. For example, if your project receives approval in March 2013, then EthOS will generate a reminder notice in January 2014, and again in February 2014. The templates for completion of your report will be available on the EthOS website.

Final reports

If your project has been completed and the results disseminated, i.e. finalised, then you will submit a final report. All final reports are to be accompanied by a copy of publications arising, e.g. a report, journal paper, conference presentation or other method as approved by the Committee.

Please refer to your approved application and/or approved amendment for details regarding publication matters and any data destruction or return requirements, as you will be required to detail compliance with any requirements attached to your approval when submitting your final report.

If your research project received Ethics Committee approval prior to 31 December 2012, then submit the report using this template: Final monitoring report [42KB DOC].

If your research project received Ethics Committee approval after 9 January 2013, then the template for completion of your final report will be available on EthOS.

Note: Reports received after the due date will be held over to the next committee meeting.

For further advice contact the Ethics Manager: tel. (02) 6244 1123, email

Notification of outcome of applications

The AIHW Ethics Committee will consider applications for research, requests for amendments, and annual and final monitoring reports at its meetings (for dates for 2013 see above).

The Principal Investigator for the research project will be advised by letter only of the Committee’s decisions. You can expect that letter to arrive within 6 weeks of the Committee meeting date. In due course the letter will be available in EthOS.

Projects approved by the Ethics Committee in 2012

Data integration related projects

Contact the AIHW Ethics Committee

Contact the Ethics Manager for further information