The Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics (PRE) is a body of external experts established in November 2001 by Canada's three Federal Granting Agencies (the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council) to support the development and evolution of their joint research ethics policy the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS).

The Agencies adopted the TCPS in August, 1998 as a common statement of research ethics policy to guide those conducting, participating in, or reviewing human research in institutions funded by CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC. PRE is mandated to advise the Agencies on the evolution, interpretation, implementation and educational needs of the policy. PRE's independent and multi-disciplinary advice is intended to promote high standards of ethical conduct, advance the protection of human research participants, and enhance accountability in research ethics.

As part of the new governance structure around the TCPS, the Agencies have also created a Secretariat on Research Ethics to support the work of PRE.