The Collective
The Collective is more than an ethics committee. It's a network of experienced professionals who contribute their expertise across ethics review, education, governance and sector leadership. By working collaboratively, we support researchers and organisations to navigate ethical challenges with confidence and integrity.
As a not-for-profit organisation, our income is reinvested into delivering high-quality ethics review, fairly recognising the expertise of our committee members, and strengthening research ethics capability across Aotearoa.
Our Values
Manaakitanga / Care
We genuinely believe in the value of research ethics and aspire to enhance the wellbeing of researchers and their participants
Pono / Integrity
We recognise the importance of inspiring trust and confidence in research, and hold ourselves accountable to the highest ethical standards
Kotahitanga / Partnership
We value the expertise of researchers and the communities they work with, and we serve as a conduit for high-quality research outcomes
Professionalism
We have a depth of experience and expertise in our field and are guided by robust governance and operational procedures
Our Story
The Collective was established to meet the growing demand for independent ethics review across New Zealand's government, private and community research sectors. As research activity has expanded, so too has the need for timely, high-quality ethics review that supports researchers while protecting the rights, wellbeing and interests of participants.
Building on the legacy of the Aotearoa Research Ethics Committee (AREC, formerly the New Zealand Ethics Committee), The Collective continues a researcher-centred approach to ethics review while operating as a not-for-profit organisation. This model enables us to fairly remunerate our experienced ethics committee members and chairs, ensuring a sustainable service that delivers timely, independent and comprehensive review without compromising quality.
The Collective is committed to delivering high-quality, independent and transparent ethics review. We maintain our standards through strong governance, continuous quality assurance and alignment with nationally recognised ethical frameworks.
-
Independent governance through an Advisory Board that oversees our policies, procedures and quality assurance programme, including audits of randomly selected ethics reviews.
-
Continuous quality improvement through regular review of our processes, committee performance and decision-making to ensure consistency and best practice.
-
Commitment to national standards, with our ethics review processes informed by key New Zealand guidance, including Te Ara Tika, the National Ethics Advisory Committee (NEAC) guidance, and the Royal Society Te Apārangi Code of Professional Standards and Ethics.
-
External recognition, with an application currently under consideration for approval as an Institutional Ethics Committee under the Health Research Council of New Zealand's approval process.
Our Fees
The Collective has very carefully ensured it has no influence on the decision making of its committees. The fees charged are for the review of a study, regardless of the outcome.
Fees are determined by the Board and Co-Directors and are managed separately to the Committees. The Committees do not see the financial statements of the Company and not be involved in this facet of the business.
Fees are levied to cover the costs of providing the expert review, regardless of the outcome of that review. To be clear: Fees are charged for the review process; not the review decision. Fees remain payable in cases where a study has been not approved by the Committee.
A not-for-profit provider of human research ethics services, grounded in manaakitanga, pono, kotahitanga and professionalism
Aotearoa New Zealand
