The Research Integrity, Compliance and Ethics (RICE) office is committed to providing regulatory oversight and promote research integrity and ethical conduct for the clinical research within SingHealth. By strengthening the research quality, research integrity and regulatory compliance, it enables the growth of research activities in our Academic Medical Centre.
Research Institution (RI) Administration is responsible for ensuring that all human biomedical research are conducted under the supervision of SingHealth RI and the control is in compliance with the Human Biomedical Research Act (HBRA). It involves defining the policies and implementation of policies to govern the conduct of clinical research projects for the SingHealth research community. The RI Administration also outlines the roles and responsibilities of the committee that provide oversight of human biomedical research activities:
1. Research Regulatory Compliance Committee (EXCO and Operations Committee)2. Biobank Advisory Committee
Research Compliance Management is responsible for the monitoring, quality management and internal audit of the research. The monitors will perform on and off-site routine monitoring using a risk-stratified framework recommended by the International Conference for Harmonisation Guidelines for Good Clinical Practice (ICH GCP), and ensure that relevant regulations and guidelines are met by objectively evaluating the process and conduct of Investigator-Initiated Clinical Research (IICRs) on behalf of SingHealth institutions. Examples of IICR could be either a clinical trial under the Health Products and Medicines Act, or human biomedical research under the HBRA. Continuous research quality surveillance will be performed along with internal audit, to identify process or system deficiencies. Best practices will be shared and relevant corrective actions will be implemented.
Education and Development is responsible for conducting educational and training activities, advising researchers and developing educational materials, so as to keep the researchers abreast of new legislation and guidelines. The collaboration and outreach team is responsible for supporting the adoption of and promoting adherence to these policies in SingHealth institutions. The latest development on compliance, ethics and integrity matters will be shared.
Centralised Institutional Review Board (CIRB) Operations assists the CIRB in reviewing research projects to assure that the rights and welfare of the human research participants are protected and that the regulations are followed. The CIRB secretariats support the CIRB Chairperson and committee members in a timely manner.
Research Integrity is responsible for handling concerns involving allegations of research misconduct, thus ensuring all research within SingHealth are conducted responsibly and honestly.
RICE provides leadership in the protection of the rights, welfare and wellbeing of subjects involved in research conducted or supported by the SingHealth Group.
RICE aims to build and implement a robust research ethical and compliance framework that fulfils the requirement of legislation, policies and guidelines.
RICE is guided by the essentials:1. We create value by ensuring ethical and responsible conduct of research2. We set ambitious goals and strive for excellence3. We are accountable for our deliverables4. We strive for agility and simplicity in everything we do5. We never compromise on quality, patient safety and ethics
