WA Health Central HREC achieves milestone for research ethics in WA

The WA Health Central Human Research Ethics Committee (Central HREC) has reached a significant milestone, receiving certification from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

This achievement marks a major step forward in streamlining ethics review processes across Western Australia and strengthening WA Health’s commitment to high-quality, ethical research.

The WA Health Central HREC is the state’s primary ethics committee for reviewing health and medical research proposals. Central HREC is now an NHMRC‑certified public health HREC with broad scope to review all categories of health and medical research, strengthening WA Health’s system‑wide ethics capability.

Certification ensures that WA Health meets national standards for ethical review of multicentre research, enabling participation in the National Mutual Acceptance (NMA) scheme. This means ethics approvals from Central HREC are recognised across all Australian public health sites, reducing duplication and aiming to speed up research start times.

Supporting WA’s research capability

Central HREC’s enhanced role brings tangible benefits to Western Australian researchers, including:

• A single, consistent ethics pathway aligned to national requirements.
• The goal to speed up study start‑up times across areas such as clinical trials, women’s health, mental health, data linkage, population health, rural research and more.
• A strengthened platform for collaboration across national research networks.

Leaders across OMRI noted that the certification represented a significant step forward for WA Health’s ethics reform agenda and reflected strong sector‑wide collaboration.

OMRI Executive Director Stacey Waters said the certification reflected a commitment to rigorous ethical standards and supporting researchers to deliver world-class health studies.

“This milestone aligns perfectly with OMRI’s vision to support innovation and excellence in health research,” Dr Waters said.

OMRI Director of Research Laura Kirkland applauded her team for their hard work towards achieving the certification.

“Central HREC’s certification is a game-changer for WA Health and the research community,” Dr Kirkland said.

A milestone built on system‑wide reform

The certification follows sustained work to modernise and align ethics and governance across WA Health. It highlights the commitment of the ethics and governance teams to provide a high‑quality, service‑oriented model that supports researchers in delivering impactful, ethically robust studies.

Next steps

Researchers can access submission guidelines, standard operating procedures and supporting information via the Central HREC page.