“Responsible Conduct of Research” is offered annually, and is a required course for CBI students. If students are unable to take the CBI Ethics course, they may alternatively take Biology 791 Responsible Conduct of Research, which is normally offered in the spring semester, for credit. Ethics should be taken in students’ first or second years, and then after five years the students should take an on-line “refresher” “Responsible Conduct of Research in Biomedical Sciences” course through CITI Program if they are still enrolled.

“Responsible Conduct of Research” is a workshop with both classroom and online components. The first part of the workshop aims to provide a framework for evaluating and avoiding ethical dilemmas by defining ethical and unethical practices within the standards of the scientific community. This includes discussions of institutional and governmental policies as well as standard behavioral practices. The second part of the workshop focuses on discussions of the most common ethical issues including, data management, conflict of interest, publication practices, mentoring, and the use of animal and human subjects in research. The workshop is conducted through a combination of small group and entire class discussions. Upon completion of the classroom course, the students should take an on-line course “Responsible Conduct of Research in Biomedical Sciences” through CITI Program and e-mail their certificates of completion to CBI Program Coordinator at cbiassist@umass.edu.