Research Ethics Committee Meeting Dates

Meetings will take place subject to demand on:

When should I submit?

Anytime - but it is recommended that you submit to the research ethics committee 2 months ahead of a meeting date to allow for the submission to be validated and for DPO review to take place. If your study involves RCSI, you should contact the RCSI Sponsorship Office 3 months before a meeting to allow RCSI time to complete its internal pre-assessments. If your study is cancer-related, you should contact the Cancer Centre who provide a series of supports for cancer researchers at all project stages.

As there is no meeting in August, advisable to make sure you submit by 21st August 2026 for review in October 2026.

Any submissions fully validated by 4th September to be scheduled for data protection review in September 2026.

If your study involves RCSI, please ensure to engage with the RCSI Sponsorship Office NOW and before July 20th.

SOP - steps which are followed from validation to sign off

See Short SOP for Investigators conducting Research and Clinical Trials in Beaumont Hospital and applying to Beaumont REC

Please note that research ethics committee approval is one of several approvals required to conduct a research study.

While a researcher conducting a simple single site study with no third party involvement can receive all the necessary approvals within 3 months, most research studies involve third parties and require contracts with the hospital and take between 4 and 6 months to receive all approvals. Complex studies with multiple sites, multiple third parties, or international third parties can take a lot longer however.

For an idea of timelines, see

• Pathway1b - Studies involving RCSI
• Pathway2 - Studies not involving RCSI - requiring contracts
• Pathway3 - Studies not involving RCSI - no contracts required

see also site sign off process.