Which Research Ethics Committee Should I Submit to in Uganda?

Choosing a Research Ethics Committee, or REC, is not mainly a question of cost or speed. It is a question of affiliation and study site.

Three questions settle most cases:

1. Does your own institution have an accredited REC?
2. Does the institution hosting your study have one?
3. Does your study fall into a category that needs special or joint review?

Work through them in that order.

The word doing the work in that table is accredited. A committee that reviews research is not automatically permitted to do so. UNCST accredits RECs in Uganda, and the accredited list is public.

If you are registered at or employed by an institution that operates an accredited REC, that committee is normally your starting point.

At Makerere University, for example, review is organised by school rather than centrally. The School of Public Health Research and Ethics Committee handles proposals from its staff, students and partners, and the School of Health Sciences Research and Ethics Committee (MAKSHSREC) does the same for its own constituency. The University's Directorate of Research, Innovation and Partnerships lists the chairpersons of the affiliated committees, which is a quick way to identify the right school-level REC.

Whichever committee applies, submissions in Uganda are now made online through the National Research Information Management System (NRIMS). Individual committees may also ask for soft or hard copies alongside the NRIMS submission, and requirements differ for master's students, PhD students and staff.

If your own organisation has no REC, look next at where the research will actually happen.

A hospital, research institute or university hosting your study may operate an accredited REC, and that committee is usually the appropriate reviewer.

Keep one distinction clear: ethical approval and permission to conduct research at a site are not the same thing. A REC judges the ethics of the study. A site gives administrative permission to work on its premises, access its patients, staff or records, and use its resources. Many studies need both, from different offices, and the site permission often cannot be requested until the REC letter exists.

Uganda's 2025 National Guidelines for Research Involving Humans as Research Participants allow researchers without an applicable institutional or host REC to submit to another accredited REC.

That is a genuine choice, so compare committees on practical grounds:

• Does the committee review studies of your type and discipline?
• How often does it meet, and what is the cut-off for the next meeting?
• What does it charge, and what does the fee cover?
• What documents does it require at submission?
• How does it handle amendments, renewals and close-out?
• Who will answer your questions between meetings?

No committee is automatically the best, fastest or cheapest, and none of that can be established in the abstract. Ask the secretariat directly.

The number of accredited committees changes as new ones are accredited and others lapse. UNCST's detailed list dated 15 September 2026 contains 40 accredited Research Ethics Committees, alongside two Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees. Treat any figure, including that one, as a snapshot and confirm current accreditation in NRIMS or on the UNCST list before you submit.

Multi-centre studies do not need one review per site. The usual pattern is a single formal REC review, followed by administrative clearances from each participating site.

Collaborative studies run from outside Uganda still require Ugandan ethical review.

• A local accredited REC acts as the REC of record for the work conducted in Uganda.
• A Uganda-based Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator is required.
• Approval from a home institution abroad does not replace Ugandan review; it supplements it.

Plan the Ugandan review into the project timeline from the start rather than treating it as a formality after the funder's clock has begun.

Some research does not follow the ordinary route.

Phase I clinical trials, studies carrying higher risk, and protocols that are unusually complex may be directed to a committee with a specific designation for that work, or reviewed jointly. Uganda has national guidance for joint scientific and ethical review.

If your study falls into any of these categories, ask UNCST or your REC secretariat which route applies before you submit, rather than after.

Work down the list and stop at the first yes.

1. Does your institution have an accredited REC? If yes, start there.
2. Does the host institution have an accredited REC? If yes, start there.
3. Is your study Phase I, high-risk or unusually complex? If yes, ask about special designation or joint review before submitting.
4. Is it a collaborative study led from abroad? If yes, identify the Ugandan REC of record and the Uganda-based PI or Co-PI.
5. Is there no applicable institutional or host REC? Then choose an accredited REC that reviews your type of study, and confirm its accreditation before paying anything.

If you want to use a different committee even though an institutional or host REC applies, that needs permission from UNCST, with justification.

A Makerere master's student in public health. Their school operates an accredited REC, so that is the starting point. Departmental clearance and supervisor sign-off come first, then submission through NRIMS.

An NGO with no REC of its own. The study runs in a district hospital that has no accredited committee either. The organisation may submit to another accredited REC, then seek administrative permission from the hospital and the district.

A multi-centre hospital study. One formal REC review covers the protocol. Each participating hospital still issues its own administrative clearance before data collection begins there.

A Phase I trial. This is not an ordinary submission. The team should confirm the required review route, including any special designation or joint review, before choosing a committee.

Start with your institution, then the host institution, then the national rules. Choosing freely between committees is the exception, not the default, and it applies when no institutional or host REC covers your study.

Get this right before you pay a fee, and the rest of the ethics pathway is much easier to plan.