Professional Development
Responsible Conduct of Research
Download the RCR Report and Presentation
The Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and Research and a team of faculty are working to establish "best practices" for educating students and faculty members in responsible conduct of research (RCR), professional standards, ethics, and the skills necessary to identify and make decisions about such issues as conflicts of interest, authorship, ownership and use of data, plagiarism, and mentor relationships and responsibilities. The goal is to establish a two-tiered training program. One tier would be administered by the Office of Graduate Studies and provide training and annual assessments of knowledge and skills in areas common to all disciplines, e.g., ethics, conflict of interest, mentor/trainee relationships, data management, publication. Self-paced and web-based tutorials, videos, and links to additional general and discipline specific information and practices are currently available. The second tier would provide follow-up seminars and group discussions of case studies with topic experts in each of the colleges and their disciplines. These discussions would allow students and faculty to deepen their understanding and exercise their skills.