The Responsible Conduct of Research (“RCR”) will have two sessions offered this semester. These are scheduled for August 29th and September 12th, 2025, from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm in Palko Hall, Room 130. RCR training is beneficial for any person involved in research and should be taken no less than once every four years.
TCU requires RCR training for any student (graduate and undergraduate) paid from grant funds and all postdoctoral fellows/associates*.
*NIH and NSF have specific RCR training requirements that may go beyond the minimum requirements set by TCU. If your research and/or scholarly activity is federally-funded and you are unsure of the RCR training requirements for your personnel, please contact Research Compliance at research@tcu.edu or (817) 257-5070.
The training will focus on ethical issues in research and be divided into two sessions:
The first session will be a presentation from Assistant Vice Provost for Research Compliance, Dr Daxton “Chip” Stewart., on important RCR topics including Conflict of Interest, Research Misconduct, Data Management and Authorship, and Human and Animal Subjects research.
The second session will offer an interactive case study on research misconduct and provide an overview of the various research committees.
The mandatory online Vivarium Training meeting will be distributed by email to the Principal Investigators who are responsible for distributing it to all personnel that require vivarium access for the 2025-26 Academic Year. This training is an important reminder of a) the rules for the daily operation of the vivarium, b) the value of providing the best animal care and housing for the animals under our care, and c) the importance of animal research. At the end of the online training, there will be a 20-question test that must be passed (70% or better) for training to be considered completed (repeated testing is allowed).
It is strongly encouraged that PIs organize an in-person meeting with the Vivarium Facilities Manager (Brenton Cooper) and Animal Care Technician for all new essential personnel working within the vivarium.
Please remember that vivarium access will be restricted to only those individuals who complete their annual training and have completed the Occupational Health Assessment by a licensed medical care provider by 15 September 2025.
Effective October 1, 2017, NIH funded researchers will no longer have to request a Certificates of Confidentiality (“CoC”), nor will they receive an actual certificate. The CoC will be issued automatically to NIH funded grants, cooperative agreements, contracts and intramural research projects research funded wholly or in part by the NIH that collects or uses identifiable, sensitive information. Compliance with the requirements of the law will become a term and condition of award. All research that was commenced or ongoing on or after December 13, 2016 and is within the scope of this policy is issued a Certificate through this policy. Read the NIH notice here: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-17-109.html
The Office of Research has revised its research misconduct policy. The policy entitled “Ethical Conduct of Research and Creative Activities” has been superseded by the “Research Integrity” policy and procedures. The Research Integrity policy and procedures may be found on the Office of Research website.
The Protection of Human Subjects in Research Policy and related procedures have been revised. Please review these policies and procedures that are published on the TCU Office of Research website.
On August 2, NIH announced that it was withdrawing its proposal to list the names of all research personnel associated with a grant on the RePORTER system pending “further review of the policy”.
Have you wondered how/when rats, mice, and birds that are bred for research are protected by U.S. federal law?
Learn more about the topic here: https://speakingofresearch.com/2016/05/23/when-are-rats-mice-birds-and-fish-protected-by-us-federal-laws/
