University policy requires that an Institutional Review Board (IRB) must review human research projects prior to the start of the research. Undergraduate students who wish to engage in faculty mentored exempt research through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) may now use the Exempt Self-Determination Tool.
In addition, for all UCI researchers, the Exempt Self-Determination Tool has now been expanded to allow Exempt category # 4.
Exempt research may be confirmed as Exempt via use of the Exempt Self-Determination Tool for the following Exempt categories[1]:
| Exempt Category | Abbreviated Category Description |
| 1 | Established or commonly accepted educational settings that specifically involves normal educational practices |
| 2 | Interactions involving educational tests, survey, interview procedures, or observation of public behavior (including visual or auditory recording) |
| 3i | Benign behavioral interventions with the collection of information from an adult subject through verbal or written responses (including data entry) or audiovisual recording |
4 |
Secondary research uses of identifiable private information or identifiable biospecimens that are publicly available, for which consent is not required |
[1] There are some exceptions. Review the HRP webpages (for UROP undergraduates) (for Exempt researchers) for more information.