RESPONSIBLE CONDUCT OF RESEARCH TRAINING
AT THE WAKE FOREST BAPTIST MEDICAL CENTER
Wake Forest considers education in the responsible conduct of research (RCR) to be an essential part of our research community’s commitment to excellence. Broadly, these programs apply to trainees and the faculty who train them, and they meet or exceed the expectations established for trainees supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).
U.S. Federal Standards and Requirements for RCR
Biomedical research trainees funded by various federal agencies must receive RCR training, e.g., NIH and NSF.
The National Institute of Health (NIH) requires that all trainees, fellows, participants, and scholars receiving support through any NIH training, career development award (individual or institutional), research education grant, and dissertation research grant must receive instruction in responsible conduct of research. This applies to the following programs: D43, D71, F05, F30, F31, F32, F33, F34, F37, F38, K01, K02, K05, K07, K08, K12, K18, K22, K23, K24, K25, K26, K30, K99/R00, KL1, KL2, R25, R36, T15, T32, T34, T35, T36, T37, T90/R90, TL1, TU2, and U2R. This policy also applies to any other NIH-funded programs supporting research training, career development, or research education that require instruction in responsible conduct of research as stated in the relevant funding opportunity announcements. More information regarding NIH’s requirements for instruction in the responsible conduct of research can be found here.
Structural Components to RCR Training per NIH
Format: “Substantial face-to-face discussions among the participating trainees/fellows/scholars/participants; a combination of didactic and small-group discussions (e.g. case studies); and participation of research training faculty members in instruction in responsible conduct of research are highly encouraged. “
Subject Matter: "While there are no specific curricular requirements for instruction in responsible conduct of research, the following topics have been incorporated into most acceptable plans for such instruction: conflict of interest – personal, professional, and financial
a. policies regarding human subjects, live vertebrate animal subjects in research, and safe laboratory practices
b. mentor/mentee responsibilities and relationships
c. collaborative research including collaborations with industry
d. peer review
e. data acquisition and laboratory tools; management, sharing and ownership
f. research misconduct and policies for handling misconduct
g. responsible authorship and publication
h. the scientist as a responsible member of society, contemporary ethical issues in biomedical research, and the environmental and societal impacts of scientific research”
Faculty Participation: “Training faculty and sponsors/mentors are highly encouraged to contribute both to formal and informal instruction in responsible conduct of research.”
Duration of Instruction: “Instruction should involve substantive contact hours between the trainees/fellows/scholars/ participants and the participating faculty. Acceptable programs generally involve at least eight contact hours. A semester-long series of seminars/programs may be more effective than a single seminar or one-day workshop because it is expected that topics will then be considered in sufficient depth, learning will be better consolidated, and the subject matter will be synthesized within a broader conceptual framework.”
Frequency of Instruction: “Reflection on responsible conduct of research should recur throughout a scientist’s career: at the undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, predoctoral, postdoctoral, and faculty levels. … Instruction must be undertaken at least once during each career stage, and at a frequency of no less than once every four years.”
Wake Forest Campus Coordination
Wake Forest University and the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center manage complimentary plans for RCR training, depending on where the trainee’s program of study fits into the school’s organizational structure. In general, the plans align with the physical spaces at the Wake Forest University/Reynolda Campus or the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center/Bowman Gray, Downtown and Clarkson Campuses.