28 November 2024
With extensive experience in research integrity and ethics, HREC Chairperson and Health Consultant Dr Gordon McGurk is the originator, program shaper and convenor of the National HREC Conference. Now in its 5th year, this national conference continually increases in quality and attendee number.
“In 2020, we had 600 people register for the first National HREC Conference, and, in 2024, more than 2,500 registered, demonstrating that the conference filled a gap in the market and continues to meet the needs of HREC members, coordinators and researchers.
“Before the National HREC Conference, the last conference that involved HRECs was around 2009 and run by the NHMRC,” Dr McGurk said. “There are a couple of related conferences, but nothing of this size and format.”
“In 2024, the attendee number means that we will have more than half of the HREC committee members and administrators in the country attending at some point.
The free conference is held virtually to encourage as many people as possible to attend. “Effectively, it democratises HREC training. Presentation videos are also available free online after the conference as training resources.”
Dr McGurk’s experience in ethics stretches back many years. Following a postdoctoral research position at the ANU in Canberra, he left the competitive world of research, securing a role at the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator. There he worked for 5 years before working for 10 years at the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). At NHMRC, he managed the area responsible for research integrity, human and animal ethics, governance and clinical trials.
In 2017, he left the NHMRC and started Omniadvisory Consulting, advising on the structure and operation of human and animal ethics committees, clinical trial governance and research integrity matters.
In 2018, Dr McGurk became Chair of the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (RBWH) Human Research Ethics Committee and, in 2019, the Chairperson of one of The University of Queensland’s HRECs. He is also a member of the Townsville Hospital and Health Service HREC. In addition, Dr McGurk remains Chair of one of the committees responsible for writing and amending the Australian Standard for Safety in Laboratories. In this regard, he has added biosafety to his areas of interest and expertise.
Early in his tenure as the Chair of the RBWH HREC, Dr McGurk identified the need to share HREC resources and knowledge more broadly. Having initially organised a meeting of Queensland HREC Chairs, it became clear to him that a bigger forum was needed.
Following the establishment of this Queensland community of practice, and with the assistance of Sara Gottliebsen from the then Brisbane Diamantina Health Partners, now Health Translation Queensland (HTQ), the first National HREC Conference took place in November 2020. HTQ continues to organise the conference and provides technical, logistical and secretariat support.
Five years on, he still sees a strong need for the event. Beyond the National HREC Conference, Dr McGurk has a clear vision of bringing together research ethics and integrity coalitions.
“In Australia, we must continually look at improving the ability of HRECs to make evidence-based decisions that add value and quality to the research study and protect the safety of the participants,” Dr McGurk said.
“As research evolves, so must the HREC committee’s critical thinking, expertise and capability.
“The conference always raises contemporary issues, and this year, the focus is on offering practical strategies to HRECs in a way that helps them improve their operations and the quality of their research.
“For example, we will look at AI and how it’s changing the research dynamic. Then, we will provide a practical example of how an institute uses AI to assess ethics applications, reinforcing participants’ understanding of the challenges and opportunities.
“Similarly, if we talk about quality, providing details on how such quality can be evidenced is helpful.”
Dr McGurk believes establishing and demonstrating quality in HREC review requires several tools, including a pool or panel of experts who can provide advice or act as a de facto external assessor. To this end, he has raised the possibility of establishing a national association of HREC Chairpersons. While he has yet to progress this concept, he feels it would be an exciting development in Australia.
“This may not find favour with all HRECs, but again, it’s just another tool in the toolbox to address quality and consistency issues,” Dr McGurk said.
“Beyond the ethics space, I would also like to see a larger community of practice in research integrity – one that identifies issues and shares useable solutions like the HREC community.
“A national research integrity CoP could encourage organisations and research institutes to reflect on how research is conducted and offer them an objective, independent evaluation of their research integrity capability.
“In Australia, we can create a coalition of all research integrity officers like the European network.
“A national coalition would bring together existing research integrity groups that currently exist in some Australian states to identify and address national requirements.
“It may also be used to provide expertise and independent advice about whether an institute has followed its own research integrity process. Australia already has the Australian Research Integrity Committee, and there has been consideration of whether Australia needs its own Office of Research Integrity. What I am proposing could provide an interim solution or act as another source of expertise for those entities who haven’t yet developed sophisticated approaches to research integrity management.
“In 2023, we ran the first research integrity conference, and, similar to the National HREC Conference, I think it will continue to grow as the need to support safe and high-quality research continues to grow.”
This year’s National HREC Conference is from 27 to 29 November. To learn more about HTQ’s Research and Integrity Group, please visit this webpage, or for resources on research integrity, visit this webpage.
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