page_title: Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
section_title: Ethical research
hierarchical_section_title: Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies / Research / Ethical research
caption_attribution_description: English: Chrissy Grant, Chair of the AIATSIS Research Ethics Committee, running a GERAIS workshop at AIATSIS, 2015.
context_page_description: The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, publishing and research institute and is considered to be Australia's premier resource for information about the cultures and societies of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The Institute is a leader in ethical research and the handling of culturally sensitive material and holds in its collections many unique and irreplaceable items of cultural, historical and spiritual significance. The collection at AIATSIS has been built through over 50 years of research and engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and is now a source of language and culture revitalisation, native title research and family and community history. AIATSIS is located on Acton Peninsula in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
context_section_description: "Indigenous people are also researchers, and all participants must be regarded as equal participants in a research engagement."
  AIATSIS publishes the Guidelines for Ethical Research in Australian Indigenous Studies (referred to as GERAIS), a document considered to be the leading ethics guidelines for conducting research in and with Indigenous communities in Australia.
  The guidelines consist of 14 principles. These principles broadly fit under the following themes:
  rights, respect and recognition
  negotiation, consultation, agreement and mutual understanding
  participation, collaboration and partnership
  benefits, outcomes and giving back
  managing research: use, storage and access, and
  reporting and compliance
  The GERAIS document is required reading for researchers applying for Ethical Clearance for research sponsored by AIATSIS. However, the guidelines are also intended by AIATSIS to inform all research in the field of Indigenous studies.
  Originally published by AIATSIS in 2000, the latest version of the GERAIS document was published in 2012. This update was made to reflect legal and technological developments that had occurred since original publication. In particular, in the area of intellectual property and the rights of Indigenous people in their traditional knowledge and cultural expressions as well as progress in digitisation technologies and data and information management.
  These changes reflect AIATSIS' support for the importance of research projects involving appropriate ethical conduct and rights protection for both the way data is collected during research and the findings and materials generated through that research.
  The GERAIS document is the first point of reference in the ethical review process researchers must undergo before AIATSIS will sponsor a research project. All research projects are reviewed by the Research Ethics Committee for approval, using the following project documents:
  an ethical clearance proposal, using the GERAIS document as a guide,
  a plain English statement to explain to participants what the project is and how it will be conducted, and
  informed consent forms, that are completed by participants of the research.
  In 2013, AIATSIS was involved in the review of two National Health and Medical Research Council research ethics guidelines relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research.
caption: Chrissy Grant, Chair of the AIATSIS Research Ethics Committee, running a GERAIS workshop at AIATSIS, 2015
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 5D Mark III", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2015:04:17 10:42:22", "Image Artist": "", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "360", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "9554", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "11444", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "14312", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/40", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "320", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "320", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2015:04:17 10:42:22", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2015:04:17 10:42:22", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "43/8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "35", "EXIF SubSecTime": "41", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "41", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "41", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5760", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3840", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "9326", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1920000/487", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "320000/81", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF CameraOwnerName": "", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "215020000039", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[24, 105, 0, 0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "00003260e1"}