Scaling Open Access Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research and Mentoring Trainings Across Academic Institutions

University Of Utah, Salt Lake City UT

Investigators

Abstract

Large universities often have dedicated offices to support ethical and responsible research education, while primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) tend to lack similar resources. Yet there is a pressing need to engage faculty and students from PUIs and other academic institutions in responsible and ethical conduct of research (RECR) training, especially on the topic of research mentoring. This project addresses this educational need and provides benefit to students, faculty, and other personnel by generating accessible and permanent research ethics training materials that can be used in a variety of academic settings. The research team will assist academic institutions, including those lacking an established research education infrastructure, to understand the challenges and opportunities associated with providing training on mentoring and other research ethics topics. The team will survey a collection of academic institutions to inform its approach. Survey results will guide the development of educational modules for faculty and students engaged in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research fields. The goal of this project is to expand access to research ethics training approaches and materials. To address this goal, the research team will develop and disseminate open access and customizable RECR and research mentoring training within a network of state-funded universities. The team will seek to accomplish three main aims: (1) determine which factors are most effective in forming equitable approaches to research ethics training in STEM research fields; (2) develop and disseminate customizable research ethics training modules; and (3) evaluate how and why these factors are effective in enhancing research ethics training. The team will develop the modules using multiple education modalities and openly share the modules through a clearinghouse website. This project is jointly funded through the ER2 program by the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences and the Directorate for Biological Sciences. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.