RST-401/501/601
In response to regulatory mandates, UM requires that all graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and trainees who receive NIH or NSF funding complete one section of RST-401/501/601, which is fulfilled by completing an online RCR training course offered by the CITI Program. A CITI Program RCR course typically requires around 4 hours to complete. The online training should ideally be completed within the first semester of funding.
If using the course codes in the Department of Research Training to track RCR training, students must be registered in the appropriate RST-401/501/601 section by their home school or college, or do so at their own initiative, in order to record an “S” (satisfactory) grade for a CITI RCR course completion in the Registrar’s system. CITI’s RCR courses are recommended for everyone engaged in research, regardless of funding source or training level.
Sections of RST-401/501/601 have been assigned to the following school or college for online courses:
Section / College or School
01 Arts and Sciences
02 Business
03 Continuing Studies
04 Education
05 Engineering
06 Medicine
07 RSMAS
08 Nursing
09 Communications
If a school or college is not listed and wishes to have an RST-401/501/601 section created for their students, please contact the Ethics Program offices at 305-243-5723.
Each school or college will determine which CITI RCR version best applies to their curriculum, and will indicate the appropriate version to their students. Students will be required to indicate which version of RCR they need to complete when they first access the CITI Program course web site. Currently, CITI offers the following discipline-focused versions to meet the requirements of RST-401/501/601:
1. Biomedical
2. Social/Behavioral
3. Physical Sciences
4. Humanities
5. Engineering
6. Science Administrators
CITI Program software allows creation of “batch” files of completion reports, as well as email notifications of individual completions. Each school or college should designate a person to be a “CITI administrator,” who will be given login credentials to allow reports of CITI RCR completions to be generated as desired. Alternatively, the Ethics Programs can periodically provide completion reports generated from the CITI Program software upon request.
RST-402/502/602
In addition to on-line training, persons who receive NIH funding are required to complete classroom-based training in the form of a class, seminar or other program that addresses ethical issues relevant to the trainee’s discipline as well as broader issues of research integrity (including at least some of the standard RCR topics). One way of meeting this “face to face” requirement is to attend the two-session “Research Ethics (RCR)” courses offered periodically by the UM Ethics Programs. Alternatively, schools and colleges may create their own classroom-based RCR offerings, but the content and duration of these training alternatives must be approved by the Office of Research in conjunction with the UM Ethics Programs. Please contact the Ethics Programs to schedule students into one of their live RCR sessions, or for assistance in the development of new RCR options.
Sections of RST-402/502/602 and their assigned school or college are the same as for the online course:
Section / College or School
01 Arts and Sciences
02 Business
03 Continuing Studies
04 Education
05 Engineering
06 Medicine
07 RSMAS
08 Nursing
09 Communications
If using the course codes in the Department of Research Training to track RCR training, students must be registered in the appropriate RST-402/502/602 section by their home school or college, or do so at their own initiative, in order to record an “S” (satisfactory) grade for a “live” course completion in the Registrar’s system. As noted, a school or college can continue to use an existing course code for recording such information. For live classes provided by the Ethics Programs, schools and colleges can request attendance reports as needed in order to populate data in the Registrar’s system.
If a school or college is not listed and wishes to have an RST-402/502/602 section created for their students, please contact the Ethics Program offices at 305-243-5723.
RST-720
Unlike the RCR compliance courses, this is a graded three-credit course. It meets two times per week on the medical campus during the fall or spring semester. This course focuses on topics related to what is sometimes called the “responsible conduct of research” or “RCR” (see listing below). Put differently, it covers the landscape of “scientific integrity” – both the principles and day-to-day practicalities of research ethics. It will:
• provide students, through short lectures and case studies, with the ability to appreciate the dilemmas and pitfalls associated with the responsible conduct of research;
• provide information to students on the regulatory requirements for conducting research including safety issues and the use of humans, animals and radioactive materials;
• discuss current issues in the ethical aspects of research.
Click here for the current RST-720 syllabus.