Frequently Asked Questions

All researchers and research eligible Michigan Tech personnel and graduate students are required to adhere to requirements listed on the RCR homepage. Specifically: full-time faculty, staff, graduate students (except coursework only), trainees (undergraduates, postdoctoral fellows, visiting scientists), individuals supported in part or fully through research funding, grants, and contracts.

Michigan Technological University is committed to Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) and aligns its guidance with resources from the Office of Research Integrity (ORI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and National Science Foundation (NSF). The overall goal of RCR training is to empower researchers with the ability to make responsible and ethical decisions by providing them with an understanding of common pitfalls that can derail a successful research program.  In addition to supporting the development of researchers, these training programs and courses also fulfill the University’s obligations to sponsors or our research programs.

NIH and NSF have defined who must complete RCR training when receiving NIH and NSF awards:  

NIH 

• Required for all trainees, fellows, participants, and scholars receiving support through any NIH institutional research training grant, career development award, fellowship award, research education grant, and dissertation research grant; or as otherwise stated in the relevant funding opportunity announcements. 

NSF 

• Required for all undergraduate, graduate students, fellows, and post-doctoral researchers who will be supported by NSF awards (support includes salary or stipend).The RCR requirement flows down to all sub-awardees, including international organizations. Undergraduates, graduates, and postdoctoral researchers supported on the award to conduct research must be trained in the responsible conduct of research.

General topics covered for RCR training includes the following:

• conflict of interest – personal, professional, and financial and conflict of commitment, in allocating time, effort, or other research resources
• 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 and investigators and institutions in other countries
• peer review, including the responsibility for maintaining confidentiality and security in peer review
• data acquisition and laboratory tools; management, sharing and ownership 
• secure and ethical data use; data confidentiality, 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

Note: NIH requires significant face-to-face interaction and discussion is expected to occur among trainees, fellows, scholars, and/or participants.  Online instruction alone is not sufficient to satisfy the training requirement.

No. RCR training is not required for coursework only masters.

Yes.  You will need to complete both the graduate basic RCR course and an approved RCR course by your third semester of your PhD program.  

Once an approved Advanced RCR course is completed, the hold will be removed. Note, the hold will not prevent you from registering for classes.  

No.  You need to complete both the Graduate School Basic RCR course and an approved Advanced RCR course to meet the requirement.