Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research
The following plan has been prepared in response to Part II (Award, Administration and Monitoring of NSF Assistance Awards) Chapter IX (Recipient Standards) Section B (Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research) of the National Science Foundation Proposal and Award Guide, published in January 2023 that provides an amendment to NSF's implementation of Section 7009 of the America COMPETES Act regarding responsible and ethical conduct of research (RECR). This new version of NSF’s Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide took effect on January 30, 2023.
While NSF's implementation of the plan is specific only to NSF grant submissions, the College has elected to implement the following policy for all federal proposals submitted on or after July 1, 2023. RECR Training for Colorado College Personnel Conducting Research Supported by Federal Funding will ensure that all personnel whose research is supported by federal funding complete RECR training in a timely manner.
Please email your Completion Certificate to the Research Compliance Officer at tpowers@coloradocollege.edu with "RECR" in your subject line to verify that you have complied with this federal requirement.
RECR Training Requirements for Colorado College Personnel Conducting Research Supported by Federal Funding
“The public will support science only if it can trust the scientists and institutions that conduct research.” ~National Research Council and Institute of Medicine (2002)
Personnel Requirements
Beginning with external research funding proposals submitted on or after July 1, 2023, all personnel (undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, faculty, and other senior personnel) conducting work supported by federal funding must participate in training in the responsible and ethical conduct of research.
Accessing Training
This training is offered by the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) program, of which Colorado College is a subscribing member institution. Therefore, these courses are free to all Colorado College students, recent alumni, faculty and staff.
How to Register
- Go to: www.citiprogram.org
- Click on "Register" under "Create an account"
- Enter "Colorado College" under "Select Your Organization Affiliation"
- Complete the registration process, including setting up a username and password. We recommend that you use your CC email address in this process, otherwise we may cancel the account believing you are not a member of the CC community.
- Choose the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Basic Course (CITI has not yet adopted the "RECR" acronym)
- When prompted to add a course, choose from one of the following learner groups as appropriate:
- Group 1: Biomedical Researchers
- Group 2: Humanities Researchers
- Group 3: Physical Science Researchers
- Group 4: Research Administrators
- Group 5: Social, Behavioral, Educational Researchers
Planning for Training
It is anticipated that the basic course will take approximately 10 hours to complete. The following modules are required for all learner groups:
- Authorship
- Collaborative Research
- Conflicts of Interest and Commitment
- Data Management
- Mentoring and Healthy Research Environments
- Peer Review
- Plagiarism
- Research Misconduct
The following modules are required are required or supplementary, depending on the learner group:
- Reproducibility of Research Results
- Research Involving Human Subjects
- Using Animal Subjects in Research
- Research, Ethics and Society
- Communicating with the Public
- Presentation of Research Findings
Undergraduates are encouraged to take and complete their CITI training prior to - or in the first two weeks of - their mentored research experience.
Faculty and all other grant personnel with new awards are encouraged to take and complete their CITI training within 60 days of their award’s start date. In the event of teaching obligations during this time period, faculty PIs may delay training but should complete training prior to initiating spending on the grant.
Faculty and all other grant personnel with active awards are encouraged to take and complete their CITI training within the first 30 days of summer research activity.
Training participants do not have to finish the course in one sitting. In fact, the program recommends that participants spend about an hour and half at a time on the course.
Training participants who have completed RCR Basic training must take the RCR "Refresher" course after three years.
Oversight and Verification
The College has designated the Research Compliance Officer, Tess Powers, to oversee compliance with this RECR requirement.