Federal and other sponsors require institutions receiving financial support to adopt policies and practices to ensure adequate stewardship of resources, ethical and reasonable conduct, proper respect and concern for societal issues, and adequate safety and protections. The responsibilities for compliance may be divided among three categories within the Institution:
- Those that apply to the Institution as a whole irrespective of sponsored programs, i.e. affirmative action or occupational safety,
- Those that entail accounting and fiscal responsibilities with respect to sponsored programs, i.e. accounting standards, or audit requirements, and
- Those that entail special ethical or safety considerations related to the conduct of research, i.e. human subjects research, use of animals, radiation safety, etc. The policies of Responsible Conduct in Research (RCR) help to guide these responsibilities.
Responsibilities in category 1 are spread throughout the Institution, depending upon the particular compliance issue.
Grants and Contracts, Office of Research and Graduate Studies, assume much of the responsibility in category 2. However, program administrators and Principle Investigators (PIs) or Program Directors (PDs) must assume primary fiscal responsibility for the appropriateness of all charges.
Oversight for the issues in category 3 include mandated committees such as the Institutional Review Board (IRB), the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), and others, but responsibility, ultimately, falls on PIs and PDs to get the appropriate reviews, approvals and permits.
The following committees deal with research requirements in their respective area (see links on the left):
- Institutional Review Board (IRB) [Human Subjects]
- Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)
- Biosafety Committee
- Radiation Safety Committee
- Chemical Safety Committee
- Native American Graves and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Committee
- Misconduct Committee
UAA provides the CITI Course in the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR), which provides a comprehensive basic course in RCR. RCR training is essential for all researchers. This training is available for all UAA faculty, staff, research administrators and students involved in any aspect of research. The course includes an introduction and RCR specific to research misconduct, data acquisition and management, responsible authorship, peer review, mentoring, conflicts of interest and collaborative research. Other options including RCR in biomedical sciences, social and behavioral sciences, and physical sciences and engineering are also available. (Go to Responsible Conduct of Research Training.)
ORI (Office of Research Integrity, HHS) also offers information and resources regarding the responsible conduct of research. ORI also supports programs designed to promote education and training in the responsible conduct of research. An online version of the ORI Introduction to the Responsible Conduct of Research has been added to their website at http://ori.hhs.gov/education/products.
The Research Compliance Administrator also works closely with the Environmental Health and Safety/Risk Management Support program to ensure lab safety and other areas of research site compliance. For information involving lab safety etc., see the website for Environmental Health and Safety/Risk Management Support for safety data sheets and other useful links or contact the director, Trig Trigiano, at trig@uaa.alaska.edu.
Technology transfer (copyrights, trademarks, patents and other intellectual property) is handled at the Office of Technology Transfer for UA. For further information or questions, contact the director, Diane McLean, Intellectual Property and Licensing, 907-474-7765 or diane.mclean@alaska.edu.
"Disclosure of Employment or Services Outside of the University of Alaska" is a form filled out yearly by all UAA faculty and staff. Any questions about possible conflict of interest should be sent to Jim Mullen, Director of Human Resource Services, at 786-4650 or anjmm3@uaa.alaska.edu.
United Academics has a form entitled "Ethics Act Compliance Guidance Regarding 'Works'" for faculty. There is also a "Worksheet for University of Alaska Faculty/Staff Regarding the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act" that is offered on a voluntary basis to clarify ethical standards and liabilities. These two forms are available at the HRS website here.
For research compliance inquiries, please contact Joanne Thordarson, Research Compliance Administrator, at 786-1099 or anjkt@uaa.alaska.edu.
Last update on January 2008
