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Required human subjects training – CITI

UNL affirms its commitment to maintaining the highest ethical principles in the conduct of research with human participants. Consistent with this commitment and our own Federal-Wide Assurance, UNL requires education of key project personnel, including investigators, students, and other project staff who are engaged in research with human participants, biospecimens, or data. Training must be completed before a protocol can be approved by UNL’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) and must be maintained during the life of the project. Additionally, a refresher course must be completed no less than once every three years. Please review UNL HRPP Policy #3.009: Required Training in the Protection of Human Participants here.

Mandatory education of research personnel is consistent with NIH policy, which requires training of key project personnel as a condition of proposal award, and with the recommendations of the AAU Task Force on Research Accountability. UNL’s Human Research Protection Program Policies & Procedures require that all UNL research with human subjects, regardless of funding source, abide by the Belmont principles of respect, beneficence, and justice and the federal regulations at 45 CFR 46. Further, it states that UNL will provide initial and continuing education to personnel conducting research with human subjects to help ensure that these ethical standards are met.

The responsibility for ensuring the rights, safety, and well-being of research participants is shared by the investigator, the Institutional Review Board (IRB), the University, and all research personnel. Education of the research community in the principles and procedures for protecting human research participants is a necessary step towards meeting this joint responsibility. To assist in this process, UNL has subscribed to the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI), owned by the Biomedical Research Alliance of New York (BRANY), which offers a self-paced, web-based tutorial.

The following project staff must complete and maintain training:

Exceptions:

If you are required to complete human subjects training, and to ensure training information is accurate within NUgrant (UNL’s electronic research administration system), there are a few key pieces of information to know before you start:

Remember:

Note: Projects can still be submitted to the Research Compliance Services office to begin official IRB review even if training is not accurate within NUgrant.  RCS staff will verify training or notify the research team if training must be completed for all new form approvals.

CITI TRAINING INSTRUCTIONS

To begin and ensure ease of CITI training registration, first identify whether you are a new user or have already registered as a user through CITI.  The process will vary based on this status.

Upon navigating to the CITI website, please be aware that UNL does not subscribe to the use of Single Sign On (SSO). Usernames and passwords are chosen by the user and are not tied to UNL credentials.

NEW USER INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Create your user account through the CITI website (www.citiprogram.org).
    • You will be requested to complete a series of questions or provide information specific to your UNL affiliation. Here are just a few tips to ensure a smooth account set-up:
      • UNL is listed by the full institution name under the “Participating Institutions” heading. Please select “University of Nebraska – Lincoln.”
      • This training does not require payment from the trainee/user if you are completing this training for UNL purposes only. In other words, we do not require CME/CEU credits or registration as an Independent Learner. If this is selected as an option, this is the responsibility of the user to pay for any fees assessed.
      • The email address you enter does not have to be your UNL email address but it should be one that is used frequently so that you do not miss important reminders to refresh your training. Most UNL users will enter the email associated with their Canvas and/or NUgrant account.
      • Within the registration form, you will be asked to provide your institutional email address. Please feel free to use the same email address as before. However, it should be noted that adding your university email address here can help RCS staff verify that your course completion record is added to the correct account within NUgrant.
  2. Indicate that you conduct human subjects research at UNL.
    • Choose “Human Subjects Research – required by the IRB.”
    • More than one selection can be made when signing up through the new user registration process. If you have selected more than one course and it pertains to the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR), Conflict of Interest (COI), or Export Control, please refer to the respective RCR training instructions, COI training instructions, or Export Control training instructions pages for further guidance.
    • If you have not completed a Basic course for human subjects training before, you must select “No, I am a new investigator at UNL. I have not completed an approved Basic Course previously”.
    • You may choose to take either the:
      • Group 1. Basic Course Options for Biomedical Investigators and Key Personnel; or, you may choose the
      • Group 2. Basic Course for Social/Behavioral Research Investigators and Key Personnel depending on your area of research and what fits best. Research Compliance Services accepts either training course.
    • Based on these answers, the following screen will place you in either the Basic or Refresher course. Please verify that the correct course is selected. Remember, Refresher courses will not be accepted until a Basic course has been completed.

Note: The following courses are not required to be completed for Human Subjects Research training, nor will they be accepted for this requirement:

REGISTERED USER INSTRUCTIONS:

Note: The following courses are not required to be completed for Human Subjects Research training, nor will they be accepted for this requirement: