RCR Training

Faculty Responsible & Ethical Conduct of Research (RECR) Training – NSF training requirements as of 31 July 2023 (Click here)

Postdoc, Student, Technician, & Volunteer RCR Training Requirements

The goals of the TTU RCR Training Program are to educate research trainees in all critical areas of Responsible Research and to encourage research trainees to incorporate responsible research practices throughout their careers. Because challenges to research integrity vary among disciplines, and can change over the course of a career, research trainees participate in three components of RCR training that have complementary goals:

1. First, all trainees are required to engage in a safety training that is appropriate to their academic discipline and to the hazards that they may encounter in their coursework and research.
2. Second, all trainees are required to complete discipline-appropriate online research ethics training through the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI).
3. Because research suggests that online training alone has a limited ability to impact daily ethical decision making in research and scholarship, trainees also participate in Individualized “Face-to-Face” Training. Individualized training allows trainees to engage in thoughtful explorations of responsible conduct as they pursue their academic careers.

Instructions for complying with mandatory RCR Training.

RCR Training requires completion of all of these three components:

1. Safety Training – The safety training requirement can be met either by internal departmental training or online training provided by Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S). If your department provides internal safety training, please send documentation or a note from your safety officer or mentor that you have completed training to ResearchIntegrity@ttu.edu. All RCR trainees must complete the CHP Assessment.
2. Online Ethics Training provided by CITI – Trainees must complete one RCR training course. There are RCR courses available for the biomedical sciences, physical sciences, humanities, engineering and the social and behavioral sciences. Access CITI Training. Each CITI training module includes a test. Forward your completion certificates to your adviser and to ResearchIntegrity@ttu.edu.
3. Individualized Training can be completed in two ways.
   1. Complete a course in Research Ethics. Engineering (ENG5392), Philosophy (PHIL5125) and Business (MGT5372) offer graduate level courses in research ethics. Completing a didactic course in research ethics permanently fulfills the “face-to-face” training requirement. Note, however, that trainees (or their financial support) must pay course tuition and fees.
   2. OR, participate in ongoing seminars/conferences/workshops that occur throughout the academic year. This is a no-cost option. Announcements of scheduled events are emailed to trainees. To subscribe to the event list, email Marianne.Evola@ttu.edu. To earn credit for these seminars, trainees attend seminar events and submit a short summary to researchintegrity@ttu.edu. The summary must include the trainee's R-number and demonstrate comprehension of seminar content. Minimal summary requirements are 1-2 sentences on the seminar content and 1-2 sentences on how the information relates to the trainee's research. If this option is chosen, a trainee must earn six credits per academic year. One credit generally translates into a one hour seminar.