The three Georgia Tech Institutional Review Boards are charged with protecting the rights and welfare of human subjects participating in research projects conducted by Georgia Tech faculty, staff, or students. These include the Central IRB, the Joint Georgia State University-Georgia Tech IRB for the Advanced Brain Imaging Center, and the Classified IRB. The IRBs have the responsibility and authority to review, approve, disapprove, or require changes in research activities involving human subjects. All proposed research activities involving human subjects, regardless of source of funding or study location, must be reviewed and approved by the appropriate Georgia Tech Institutional Review Board (IRB) prior to initiation of research. The IRBs hold regularly scheduled meetings to review research protocols involving human subjects. Georgia Tech’s Federalwide Assurance is approved by the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Institutional Review Boards are registered with the Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Human Research Protections. Committee members are appointed by the Vice President for Research, who also serves as the Institutional Official for matters related to human subjects. Membership is structured in accordance with federal requirements set forth in Title 45 Code of Federal Regulations Part 46, “Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects” including Subparts A, B, C, and D, and in Title 21 Code of Federal Regulations, Parts 50, 56, 312, and 812.

The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) is charged with reviewing all proposed use of vertebrate animals, regardless of where the work is performed and source of funding, if any. The IACUC has the responsibility and authority to review, approve, disapprove, or require changes in research activities involving vertebrate animals.  This committee regularly inspects and monitors the animal care and use facilities and program at the Institute to ensure that all components are in compliance with regulations outlined in the federal Animal Welfare Act, the Public Health Service (PHS) Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, and with the Eighth Edition of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.  

The animal facilities are registered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and undergo frequent, unannounced inspections by that agency.  Georgia Tech’s Animal Welfare Assurance is approved by the Department of Health and Human Services. Committee membership is structured in accordance with federal requirements; members are appointed by the Vice President for Research, who also serves as the Institutional Official for matters related to vertebrate animal subjects.   

The IACUC has set forth procedures for reporting, without fear of reprisal, concerns about the humane use and treatment of vertebrate animals used in research and teaching activities at Georgia Tech.   The IACUC meets monthly to review research protocols which propose the use of vertebrate animal subjects; committee approval must be obtained prior to initiation of proposed activities.

The Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) is responsible for reviewing all registrations for research, teaching, and training that involve the use of recombinant DNA by Georgia Tech faculty, staff or students and ensuring that the proposed activities comply with the federal “NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant or Synthetic Nucleic Acid Molecules” and all other applicable regulations.  All scholarly activities involving recombinant DNA, regardless of source of funding, must be reviewed by the IBC.  The Committee has the responsibility and authority to review, approve, disapprove, or require changes in research, teaching, and training activities involving recombinant DNA materials.

Georgia Tech’s Institutional Biosafety Committee is registered with the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Biotechnology Activities (OBA).  IBC works closely with Georgia Tech’s Biosafety Officer in the Office of Environmental Health and Safety.  Committee membership is structured in accordance with federal requirements.  Members are appointed by the Executive Vice President for Research, who is also the Institutional Official for matters related to the Biosafety Committee.  The IBC holds meetings as needed to review registrations.

It is the policy of the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) to fully comply with all applicable federal statutes, executive orders, regulations, and contractual requirements for the safeguarding of export controlled technical information in its possession. This includes full and total compliance with export controls and transfer of controlled technology. Under no circumstances shall employees or other persons acting on behalf of GIT engage in activities in contravention of U.S. export control laws. In general, export controlled Information means activities, items, and information related to the design, development, engineering, manufacture, production, assembly, testing, repair, maintenance, operation, modification, demilitarization, destruction, processing, or use of items with a capacity for military application utility.  Export controlled information does not include basic marketing information on function or purpose; general system descriptions; or information concerning general scientific, mathematical, or engineering principles commonly taught in schools, colleges and universities or information in the public domain.

The export of equipment and information including technical data, software and hardware is controlled by federal regulations such as the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). Information such as brochures, proposals, site visits and technical discussions are deemed "technical data." Exporting information or talking to a foreign sponsor (either in the U.S. or abroad) about certain types of technical data which may have a possible military application requires a State Department export license, which may take up to three months to obtain. Exporting information or a commodity which does not have significant military application usually requires obtaining one or more of the following: an assurance which precludes reexport; supporting documentation; or a Commerce Department export license. Export of some items to certain countries and some types of subcontracts with those countries are prohibited altogether. For more information: https://ethicsfirst.gatech.edu/exportandtrade.

An organizational conflict of interest may occur when a federal contractor has an Unfair Competitive Advantage over other potential contractors or is unable to avoid Impaired Objectivity, or the appearance of Impaired Objectivity, in the course of the contracted work. (See section 4 below for detailed definitions of Unfair Competitive Advantage and Impaired Objectivity.) In order to comply with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 9.5 – Organizational and Consultant Conflicts of Interest, researchers or their designates submit all research proposals via the eRouting system, where they answer questions about the programmatic requirement of an OCI assessment. Proposals that may contain an OCI requirement, as well as proposals for which the researcher would like a review, move to a member of the OCI Review Committee for a more detailed analysis. Georgia Tech is committed to recognizing, avoiding and mitigating potential organizational conflicts of interest, both real and perceived, wherever possible.

OCI review results are retained by the OCI committee and communicated via the eRouting system for institutional documentation.