Resources for Training in the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR)
As announced in an e-mail message to all faculty members on October 12, 2009 and posted on the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) website, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will be requiring in all grant applications submitted as of January 4, 2010 that proposers certify that the institution has a plan "to provide appropriate training and oversight in the responsible and ethical conduct of research to undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers who will be supported by NSF to conduct research."
Given the impending deadline of January 4th 2010 to have in place a plan for Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training for faculty, post-doctoral associates, students and others engaged in research at WPI, we have adopted an interim plan which immediately satisfies the RCR requirements of the NSF.
The interim plan consists of online training modules of the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI), which will be available for use by the WPI community. Subsequent additional training will be developed and implemented in the coming months.
What Is CITI?
A collaborative effort between the University of Miami and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the CITI program started as a web-based training program in human research subjects protections. Since its creation in 2000, CITI has added other critical compliance training modules, one of which is discipline-specific training in RCR, as follows:
- Biological/Biomedical Sciences
- Engineering Sciences
- Humanities
- Physical Sciences
- Social Sciences
Within each module, training in the core topics is provided:
- Introduction to RCR
- Authorship and Publication
- Collaborative Research
- Data Acquisition and Management
- Conflict of Interest
- Mentoring
- Research Misconduct
- Peer Review
WPI is in the process of subscribing to CITI, which will allow all members of the community to have access to relevant training modules. In terms of meeting the compliance plan outlined above, all undergraduate students, graduate students, and post-doctoral research associates working on NSF-supported research programs will be required to "attend" each of the above modules within their specific discipline and pass the tests at the end of each core topic.
More information about the WPI RCR plan as well as instructions for accessing the CITI program will be provided in the near future. As always, we welcome any comments and/or suggestions that you may be willing to provide.
Online RCR Training Programs:
- Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) public access "CITI Course in the Responsible Conduct of Research:"
- Office of Research Integrity (ORI) "Responsible Conduct of Research Training" education program:
NSF Beta Sites for Resources on Ethics Education in Science and Engineering
- Ethics in Science and Engineering National Clearinghouse at UMass
- The Online Ethics Center at the National Academy of Engineering
