Risk Assessment with COVID-19 (from ISEF)
Student researchers and supervising adults should be aware of guidance or regulations from the state, county and local officials as well as their school districts or research facilities and abide with the most restrictive requirements with the utmost caution and care. The safety of the entire community should be a priority.
Due to the special circumstances brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is strongly recommended that ALL students include in their risk assessment how they will mitigate the spread of the disease while conducting their experiment. Examples of such mitigations include (but are not limited to):
- Wearing a face covering and maintaining a 6‑foot distance from people not in the researcher’s immediate social bubble/pod/cohort. This is especially important when conducting human participant projects.
- Washing hands frequently.
- Keeping work space clean and disinfected. This is especially important if the student is working in a shared space.
- When working with human participants, consider virtual or online options and avoid in-person projects.
DEFINITION: Human subjects research includes projects involving the following:
- Human subjects participating in physical activities (physical exertion, eating/drinking any substance, any medical procedure),
- Psychological and opinion studies (survey, questionnaire, test of any kind).
- Behavioral observations of others.
- Studies in which the researcher is the subject of the research.
ALL projects involving research with human subjects must be pre-approved by the LA County Science Review Committee (SRC) before experimentation is begun.
Prohibited Research and Disclosure
- Student researchers may NOT publish or display information in a report that identifies the human subject directly or through identifiers linked to the subjects (including photographs), without written consent.
- Students are prohibited from administering medications and performing medical procedures on human subjects.
- Students under the age of 21 are prohibited by federal and state law from using controlled substances in their research project. These substances include all forms of alcohol, explosive materials, tobacco and firearms.
Regulations and Supervision
There are federal regulations that must protect the rights and welfare of human subjects. Therefore, students must plan carefully before starting research that involves the use of human subjects in either behavioral or biomedical studies. This will protect subjects from unnecessary contact with physical or psychological harm or complications.
Please see the Human Subjects Webinar for more information regarding projects involving Human Subjects.
For your project, a Human Subject Consent Form needs to be developed in consultation with the Student and the Teacher/Site Coordinator, Designated Supervisor or Qualified Scientist. This form will provide information to your research subject (or parent/guardian) about your project and will document written “informed consent” and/or parental permission. Every participant and their parent/guardian will need to receive a version of this form and sign her or his consent at the bottom before starting a project involving human subjects. This same information will need to be entered online as a part of the research proposal.
Below are the resources needed for Research involving Human Subjects:
Human Subjects Online Pre-Approval template (This is a fillable PDF. Please download this document to your device and enter your responses in the given boxes. You do not need to complete the form in one sitting. Choose Save to save your progress. Once you complete the form, get it approved by your adult supervisor and site coordinator BEFORE you go online to complete the online pre-approval form. You can then copy and paste your responses in the appropriate sections of the online form.)
In addition, Senior Division students need to complete the ISEF Human Informed Consent form and bring them to the fair.