Section 5: Head Start pilot pre-review service

About Head Start

The RMH Ethics Office is piloting Head Start, a new ethics pre-review service.

Head Start is designed to support researchers in preparing high-quality ethics applications, involving a thorough pre-review of new research projects prior to the HREC submission deadline.

If you plan to submit to Head Start or would like to know more, read this section, otherwise proceed to the Section 6: HREC Submission procedure.

With Head Start, an experienced member of the Ethics Office will look for:

• inconsistencies between documents
• missing information
• administrative and formatting issues
• any need for clarification, explanation or further information within the application documents.

The primary goals of Head Start are to:

• Educate and support researchers to prepare high-quality ethics applications.
• Support the RMH HREC by ensuring applications are of a high standard, helping reduce the HREC's review time, enabling them to focus on the substantive ethical considerations. Head Start also aims to reduce the number of queries to be resolved post-meeting.

Pilot availability

In its pilot phase, Head Start will accept five (5) projects per month for pre-review. It is anticipated that spaces will fill quickly, and reviews will be allocated on first in first served basis. 

5. Submit all project documentation by the Head Start deadline

Applications for Head Start pre-review must be submitted by the Head Start Deadline date, which is two (2) weeks before the HREC submission deadline the researcher intends to meet. The deadlines for the remainder of 2025 are below.  

Deadline dates for 2026 will be made available on the HREC meeting dates and deadlines page in the coming months.

Applications received after the Head Start deadline will not be accepted for pre-review and must proceed directly to Section 6: HREC Submission procedure.

How to Submit

1. Open the email template addressed to ethics@mh.org.au.
2. Attach all application documents required for HREC submission.

Documents Required

Prepare and submit final draft of all documents usually required for HREC submission (see Sections 1–4), including:

• Protocol
• HREA
• VSM
• PICFs
• Fee form
• All other applicable documents

Submission Compliance

• All documents must meet HREC submission requirements.
• Provide files in Word format (.doc/.docx) to allow for markup.
  • This includes PICFs and all other participant-facing documents (PDFs will not be accepted).
• Use the file naming convention outlined in the HREC submission instructions to ensure consistency and easy identification by reviewers.

Once the Head Start process is completed, you must proceed to Section 6: HREC Submission Procedure and formally submit your project by the HREC submission deadline so that it can be reviewed at the upcoming HREC meeting.

The Ethics Office reserves the right to accept or decline submissions depending on operational capacity.

Head Start FAQs