Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A researcher planning an interview-based study with hospital patients completes the HREA in Ethical Review Manager, answering the modules the form generates based on the study design they describe (e.g. participant vulnerability, data linkage, use of tissue samples), then submits it to their institution's HREC for review.
- Is an instance
A multi-site study spanning several public hospitals uses one HREA submission to the single reviewing HREC certified under the National Mutual Acceptance scheme, rather than completing a separate application for every participating site.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
A researcher referring to "NEAF" in 2026 is using outdated terminology for the same underlying national ethics-application process -- NEAF was retired and replaced by the HREA in January 2017, and current guidance, institutional forms, and the NHMRC's own portal all use HREA.
Editorial commentary
The Human Research Ethics Application (HREA) is the national form Australian researchers use to apply for ethics approval for research involving human participants, their identifiable data, or their tissue. It is developed and maintained by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and is the direct successor to the National Ethics Application Form (NEAF), which it replaced in January 2017. Researchers, ethics administrators, and reviewers who still encounter “NEAF” in older institutional documentation should read it as referring to the same underlying national process now conducted through the HREA.
How it’s structured
Rather than a single fixed questionnaire, the HREA dynamically generates the modules and questions relevant to the specific study design a researcher describes — a project involving genomic data, for instance, triggers different follow-up questions than a purely observational survey. This design is meant to make the form proportionate to a project’s actual ethical complexity, in line with the risk-based review principles set out in the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research, which the HREA implements procedurally.
How it’s submitted
The HREA form itself is the same nationally, but researchers typically complete and lodge it through an online ethics-application management system rather than a standalone document — most commonly Ethical Review Manager (ERM), which most Australian institutions and public health services use to route a completed HREA to the correct reviewing committee. Once submitted, the application goes to the researcher’s institutional Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) or, for a multi-centre study, to a single certified reviewing HREC under the National Mutual Acceptance (NMA) scheme, which avoids the need for a separate application at every participating site.
Keeping the form current
Because the HREA operationalises the National Statement, it is revised when the Statement itself is updated — NHMRC’s HREA guidance notes the form has been updated to align with the 2025 revision of the National Statement, so researchers relying on an offline copy or an older institutional guide should confirm they are working from the current version before submitting, rather than assume a form downloaded in a prior year still matches current question sets.
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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