Responsible Conduct of Research Education

Program Plan Template

The SARI@PSU program provides an opportunity to engage graduate students broadly in a dialog surrounding issues pertinent to research ethics. The SARI@PSU program for graduate students has two parts:

1) During the first year of enrollment, graduate students will be required to complete an online RCR course provided by the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI), a Division of BRANY. The Office for Research Protections (ORP) provides a link to this training via the SARI@PSU Resource Portal on the ORP website: https://www.research.psu.edu/education/sari/CITI

2) Graduate students will also be required to engage in 5 hours of discussion-based RCR education prior to degree completion. These discussions should encompass both universal and discipline-specific material.

Please consider the following information when planning your college’s discussion-based training. Several topics have been identified by the Public Health Service Office of Research Integrity as core elements of RCR (responsible conduct of research) education. RCR activities offered within your college should focus on these topics as they relate to research conducted by the disciplines in your college.

 Conflict of interest – personal, professional, and financial  Policies regarding human subjects, live vertebrate animal subjects in research, and safe laboratory practices  Mentor/mentee responsibilities and relationships  Collaborative research including collaborations with industry  Peer review  Data acquisition and laboratory tools; management, sharing and ownership  Research misconduct and policies for handling misconduct  Responsible authorship and publication  The scientist as a responsible member of society, contemporary ethical issues in biomedical research, and the environmental and societal impacts of scientific research

Clearly, there are graduate programs for which some of the topics listed above may have no relevance. Furthermore, there may be topics not listed that are essential to meaningful RCR education in a particular field. Each college’s SARI@PSU program(s) should address this diversity with discussion-based education that is most relevant for the participating students. Colleges may be able to develop a single program that works for all students within the college; alternatively, a single plan may encompass several categories of graduate program (e.g. Biomedicine, Science and Engineering; Social Sciences; Humanities; and Professional), or it maybe more relevant to have departmentally-anchored RCR education. Whether submitting separate plans for each represented category or a single plan for the entire college, the plans should clearly describe how the needs of each group will be addressed.

SARI@PSU programs may include a variety of activities determined by the college to be effective and engaging. Custom-designed workshops, forums, and classes, or existing classes and seminars offered by the college, and/or participation in external offerings may all be included. SARI@PSU plans may include encouragement to attend some of the RCR programs offered through the ORP, such as Scholarship and Research Ethics (SARI) events (see the ORP website for further information about upcoming events). Colleges cannot solely rely on these programs, however, as seating is limited, and ORP workshops alone are insufficient to address discipline- specific issues as necessary for complete RCR training. Participation in a maximum of two hours of ORP-sponsored events may be counted towards the five-hour requirement. For an existing course to be suitable for fulfilling one of the training requirements, the Colleges must document that relevant topics from the above list are covered in such a course.

In the future, colleges may want to modify the programs offered to meet changing needs. Any substantial revisions to the programs offered should be resubmitted to the ORP for review at least 30 days prior to the date of a new activity (using the form provided on the SARI@PSU Resource Portal at the ORP website).

Completed SARI@PSU Program Plans should be submitted to the ORP (by campus mail to - The 330 Building, Suite 205, or electronically to [email protected], 865-1775). Please contact [email protected] with any questions. SARI@PSU Program Plan

College (and graduate program) submitting this SARI@PSU Program Plan:

Part 1: CITI online RCR training program:

Please describe A) how students will be made aware of the requirement; B) when students will be expected to complete the requirement; and C) how student participation will be monitored:

______

Part 2: Five hours of discussion-based RCR education:

Type of program(s) to be offered (e.g. workshop, seminar series, credit offering, ORP workshop, etc.) and frequency of offering:

RCR topics to be discussed:

How will discussion be facilitated in the instruction?

Please explain how your plan will meet the needs of students in particular disciplines or programs in your college, considering the different categories of programs (e.g. Biomedicine, Science and Engineering; Social Sciences; Humanities; and Professional):

This form is available in electronic format at https://www.research.psu.edu/node/316