New NSF Requirement for Responsible Conduct of Research Training

The America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education and Science (COMPETES) Act was signed into law in August 2007. Section 7009 requires that "each institution that applies for financial assistance from the National Science Foundation for science and engineering research or education describe in its grant proposal a plan to provide appropriate training and oversight in the responsible and ethical conduct of research to undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers participating in the proposed research project."  The new requirement is applicable to proposals submitted to NSF after January 4, 2010.  

The University of Kentucky has developed an interim plan to meet this requirement which employs a web-based training tool, the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI). CITI has several different discipline areas (Biomedical, Social and Behavioral, Physical Science, Humanities, Engineering) that include a variety of modules covering topical areas including Research Misconduct, Mentoring and  Conflict of Interest. Each undergraduate student, graduate student and postdoctoral researcher who is paid on an NSF grant that has this requirement must complete each module and pass tests covering the material within three months of beginning work on the grant. In the future, the University will develop a training plan that is not completely web-based. The CITI training course will be used for the near future.

The complete process and instructions for using CITI may be found here: http://www.research.uky.edu/faculty/NSF_RCR_process.pdf (5-page pdf)

If you have questions please contact Debbie Davis at 257-8311 or ddavis@uky.edu.