New Program Aims to Make Research Compliance Training Easier

New Program Aims to Make Research Compliance Training Easier

By Amanda BallardUniversity Relations - Communications
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The UA's newly revamped Responsible Conduct of Research Program is just one way the Office of Research & Discovery is working to help researchers focus on their goals.
The UA's newly revamped Responsible Conduct of Research Program is just one way the Office of Research & Discovery is working to help researchers focus on their goals.

Behind the exciting world of conducting groundbreaking research lies a web of ethical considerations that every researcher must navigate, and regulations that investigators are required to follow. A new Responsible Conduct of Research Program has been created at the UA to make navigating those ethical decisions and regulations a bit easier.

Previously, responsible conduct of research training was only offered once a semester during a single four-hour workshop. The new program breaks the training into multiple one-and-a-half-hour interactive workshops that cover a variety of topics and take place over the course of the semester. The goal of the workshop series is to make the content and helpful to campus researchers, and to provide a flexible means of fulfilling federal training requirements.

The workshops are offered through the Office for Research & Discovery, formerly known as the Office of the Senior Vice President for Research.

"The newly redesigned Responsible Conduct of Research Program reflects the mission of the Office for Research & Discovery to provide high-quality services to support the University's research enterprise," said Kimberly Espy, senior vice president for research. "We rebuilt the program with an eye toward providing training that will help all members of the campus community – and especially student and post-doc researchers and scholars – better understand the responsibilities and ethical considerations that come with the conduct of research in an academic setting."

While campus investigators funded by federal agencies are required to complete compliance training – primarily post-doctoral, graduate and undergraduate students – the workshops are open to anyone interested in furthering their professional development.

Topics range from conducting research with human subjects to authorship and publication, data management, and the ethics of mentoring. Although workshop formats may vary, most will utilize case scenarios, role-playing situations and discussions. All workshops are facilitated by faculty members or compliance experts.

The series began last month and will run through the spring semester. Click here for the schedule. While the "Introduction to the Responsible Conduct of Research" workshop will continue to be offered, different topics will be covered next semester.

"There's certainly a lot to discuss and learn about in these subject areas," said Scott Pryor, training and education specialist for the Office of Research & Discovery. "Yes, we're trying to help people understand the different regulatory aspects that apply when you're doing research. But we're also trying to make sure there's a core aspect of each workshop that can help people in any field deal with ethical and professional challenges that come with doing research in any discipline at any stage of their career."

Pryor said another new aspect of the redesigned program is a certificate program for those who are required to obtain responsible conduct of research training. The program offers four funding-specific certificates, including certificates for the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and an undergraduate-specific certificate.

Certificates take one year to earn and are good for three years. Researchers can use the certificates to demonstrate to their funding sponsors that they've obtained proper responsible conduct of research training. 

The "Introduction to the Responsible Conduct of Research" workshop is the base requirement for all certificates, or participants can elect to complete online course. Additional elective workshops are required depending on the certificate type.

The newly revamped program is just one way Pryor said the Office of Research & Discovery is working to help researchers focus on their goals and, in turn, help the University reach its research goals outlined in the Never Settle strategic academic and business plan.

"The real hope is that for the University as a whole, this program will be one piece of the much larger effort to increase the amount and quality of the research we're doing here," he said. "We're doing everything we can to make these workshops relevant and helpful. We really are here to meet the needs of campus."

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