Gannon University IRB Portal
A research-ethics portal rebuilt from paper and confusion into guided submissions and one review workspace.
Before any study with human participants can start, it has to pass the Institutional Review Board. At Gannon that meant a fragmented, paper-heavy process: incomplete submissions, long review cycles and nobody quite sure where an application was.
- UsersPhD researchers, faculty advisors, IRB board
- Worked withThe IRB Chief and university IT
- Replacedgannon.submitirb.com
Where the friction lived
Sessions with the IRB Chief and IT pointed to two root causes of rework: too much information at once, and no visibility of status. Researchers guessed what was required; reviewers chased missing pieces by email.
Mapping every hand-off
I mapped the journey across researchers, advisors and the board, then used conditional questions, advisor approval and status notifications to make each hand-off explicit.
Guided in, prioritised out
A step-by-step intake with guidance exactly where researchers get stuck, and a reviewer dashboard with priority flags, readable tables and clear status. Testing with the IRB Chief and PhD researchers exposed gaps in the faculty workflow, which we fixed before launch.
What changed
- 1 place for applications, feedback and status
- Fewer manual hand-offs between researchers and reviewers
- Live at irb.gannon.edu