RCR Overview
The SPU Institutional Review Board (IRB) should be your first stop for guidelines on how to protect the rights, health, and privacy of individuals who participate in research conducted through the University.
Faculty who are required to complete Responsible Conduct of Research training as part of their grant submission can complete it in two ways:
If your research involves human subjects: NIH course on Protecting Human Subjects
- You must complete the the course and submit your certificate of completion to the Faculty Life Office.
If your research does not include human subjects: CITI training
- The Collaborative institutional Training Initiative (CITI) offers training programs specifically designed for biomed, engineering, humanities, physical sciences and social, behavioral, and education sciences.
All researchers must take the following modules in their discipline.
- Authorship
- Collaborative Research
- Conflicts of Interest
- Data Management
- Mentoring
- Peer Review
- Research Misconduct
Researchers using non-human animals must complete the below module:
- Using Animal Subjects in Research
Those conducting engineering-based research must complete two additional modules.
- Environmental and Social Dimensions of Engineering Research
- Whistleblowing and the Obligation to Protect the Public
To complete the program, you can pay on your own and receive reimbursement from the Faculty Life Office when submitting receipts, or you can have the Faculty Life Office register on your behalf. In that case, we will send you your credentials to complete the training. If you choose to register on your own, open the CITI link above, scroll down to the bottom of the page to the “For subscription and pricing options” link, and register as an Independent Learner.
Conflict of interest
If your granting agency requires you to complete conflict of interest training, you can meet this requirement by completing NIH’s conflict of interest training module.
The tutorial takes about 20 minutes to complete. Complete the required training tutorial and then print out and send the certificate of completion at the end of the tutorial to the Faculty Life Office.
Your appropriate training certificate must be on file before the Faculty Life Office will submit your grant. See your grant proposal application instructions to see which members of the grant team are required to have RCR training.
To stay current, certificates must be updated at least every five years, unless the granting agency requires a more frequent education cycle. In addition, investigators must disclose any significant financial interests at least annually during the period of an NIH grant.