Message from Lisa A. Cassis, Ph.D., Vice President for Research

Mandatory online training

To ensure a baseline knowledge of ethical research practices, UK is implementing mandatory web-based Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) course training through the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI). 

The CITI RCR training course consists of 6 modules listed below. Additional modules are available through CITI, and we encourage you to voluntarily take modules that are appropriate for your research and creative mission. However, please note:  All active faculty, all faculty and staff listed on an Internal Approval Form (IAF) for sponsored projects and/or research protocols, employees paid on sponsored research, and all current graduate students at UK must complete the 6 modules of the basic RCR course and refresh the training yearly thereafter. 

There is now a Refresher course listed, you must complete the Basic course before being given credit at UK for the Refresher course. You will take the refresher course when your basic course expires one year after completion. Please note:  if you completed an RCR course before November 2019, you are not eligible to complete the Refresher course as the UK CITI RCR courses have been restructured.

The deadline for completion of the mandatory web-based CITI RCR training has been extended to May 31, 2021. If you do not complete this training by the stated deadline, continued access to certain university systems and processes related to research will be suspended until RCR training is completed. This includes, but is not limited to, submission of IBC, IRB, and IACUC protocols and amendments; new award set-up; project amendment processing and access to certain internal funding programs.

Thank you for your dedication to the UK research mission.

About the CITI RCR Course

There are now only two options when completing the RCR course, Basic and Refresher. If you have never completed the RCR training or completed a version of the RCR training before November 2019, you will need to complete the Basic course for credit at UK. If you completed the RCR Basic course after November 2019 and a year has passed, you may complete the RCR Refresher course. The required modules are:

• Responsible Conduct of Research Special Instructions;
• Mentoring;
• Peer Review;
• Research Misconduct;
• Conflicts of Interest;
• Data Management; and
• Reproducibility of Research Results.

Review of the required materials and completion of the quizzes will take about 30-35 minutes per topic. Courses do not have to be completed in one session. A minimum aggregate score of 80% is required to pass the RCR course. CITI allows you to retake the quizzes if you do not obtain the minimum score required to pass the course.