Internal Communications

Reminder – When New Studies go to BRANY IRB

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The UConn IRB office would like to remind study teams that new externally funded studies and studies with more than 2 collaborating sites or investigators/study personnel should now be submitted to BRANY IRB after an administrative review by the IRB Office to validate consistency with UConn requirements. Please note that this includes both faculty and student research. For more information, including a process overview and BRANY-specific protocol and consent templates, please visit the following IRB webpage: https://ovpr.uconn.edu/brany-irb/.

 

We would also like to clarify that collaborating sites refers to universities and other organizations who are engaged in the research. The term “Collaborating sites” is not intended to encompass external facilities (e.g., K-12 schools) or spaces (e.g., lab space) who have agreed to provide access to their facilities/space for research activities but are not engaged in the research itself.

 

For examples of scenarios when an organization or individual would and would not be engaged and for more information on engagement refer to ”Engagement of Institutions in Human Subjects Research.” If you are uncertain whether an individual, facility, or organization is engaged in research, please contact irb-reliance@uconn.edu.

 

The IRB office is actively working on improvements to our forms, templates, and guidance. Please visit our IRB Submissions, Forms & Templates page prior to creating a submission to ensure that you are using the most current versions of our forms and templates.

 

Changes to UConn IRB CITI and Other Updates

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The UConn IRB office is pleased to announce the following changes to UConn’s CITI training requirements and our related processes.  Our intent is to reduce the number of times that submissions are returned for changes, streamline review cycles, and reduce burden. These changes were effective Monday, November 20, 2023, for new submissions to the IRB and for those that have not yet undergone Intake review.

  • Ideally CITI human subjects training should be complete and current at the time of IRB submission for all study personnel so that missing or expired trainings do not hold up the approval.  However, the IRB Office will no longer return a submission at the Intake review if the only issue is missing or expired training(s). An email will instead be sent to the PI informing them of who has missing/expired training(s) and noting that the training(s) must be completed before the study can be approved. Investigators will also be given the option to remove any non-essential personnel from the submission and to add them back on via a personnel amendment once the research is approved and training is complete.

 

  • When personnel have completed CITI training elsewhere, but the individual has not yet affiliated with UConn -Storrs and Regional Campuses in their CITI profile, investigators will be given the options of either having them affiliate in CITI so that their training becomes visible to the IRB Office (preferred) or uploading a copy of their CITI Completion Report (not a CITI Training Certificate) into the InfoEd study record. The Completion Report lists the modules that were completed and when. The IRB Office will review the Completion Report and determine whether the training is current (within 3 years) and meets UConn’s requirements or is substantially equivalent (meaning that at least 70% of the modules align).

 

  • For studies that are subject to NIH’s Good Clinical Practice (GCP) Training policy, the UConn IRB Office will no longer require proof of CITI GCP training with IRB submissions.  Instead, Principal Investigators will be responsible for ensuring that study personnel have completed the training, that it is refreshed at least every three years, and for maintaining the proof of training. If a study that is subject to the policy has a Post Approval Monitoring (PAM) visit, the PI may be asked to provide the documentation of GCP training for verification. Proof of training should also be provided to other appropriate parties upon request (e.g., other IRBs, SPS, NIH).

 

We are in the process of updating our webpages and other materials to reflect these changes.  Questions about training requirements can be directed to irb@uconn.edu.

 

Improvements to InfoEd: The project to make improvements to InfoEd is progressing well with all forms undergoing basic testing and revisions to ensure that the logic is functioning properly, and that content appears as expected. Work is also being done on the workflow within the system and other aspects of system set-up. We expect to soon be able to do some more advanced testing and will be reaching out to Investigators and IRB Members to assist with the testing and to provide feedback from their perspectives. Announcements will be forthcoming as we continue to make progress.

 

BRANY IRB: The UConn IRB office would like to remind study teams that new externally funded studies and studies with more than 2 collaborating sites or investigators/study personnel should be submitted to BRANY IRB after an administrative review by the IRB Office to validate consistency with UConn requirements. Please note that this includes both faculty and student research. For more information, including a process overview and BRANY-specific protocol and consent templates, please visit the following IRB webpage: https://ovpr.uconn.edu/brany-irb/.

 

We would also like to clarify that collaborating sites refers to universities and other organizations who are engaged in the research. The term “Collaborating sites” is not intended to encompass external facilities (e.g., K-12 schools) or spaces (e.g., lab space) who have agreed to provide access to their facilities/space for research activities but are not engaged in the research itself.

 

Feedback from investigators thus far has been largely positive, but we are working on a few improvements related to feedback we have received. If you have feedback to share, please reach out to the interim IRB Manager, Karen Christianson, or to the IRB Reliance Team. Feedback is always welcome and appreciated. Questions/feedback can also be sent directly to the BRANY IRB Point of Contact, Vanessa Rodriguez, at vrodrguez@brany.com or 516.514.2445.

2024 Responsible Conduct of Research Training Remote Sessions

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This is the last week of the 2024 Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training sessions! Sessions will be presented live via WebEx in a series of hour-long sessions. This week’s sessions include “Managing Mentoring and Peer Relationships” on Monday 2/26, “Research Security/Export Control” on Tuesday 2/27, “Ethics in the Use of Human Subjects in Research” on Thursday 2/29.

 

Who should sign up? All trainees, fellows, participants, and scholars receiving support through any NIH training grant, career development award (individual or institutional), research education grant, or dissertation research grant (specifically, the following programs: D43, D71, F05, F30, F31, F32, F33, F34, F37, F38, K01, K02, K05, K07, K08, K12, K18, K22, K23, K24, K25, K26, K30, K99/R00, KL1, KL2, R25, R36, T15, T32, T34, T35, T36, T37, T90/R90, TL1, TU2, and U2R) are required to complete RCR training per NIH policy. This policy also applies to any other NIH-funded programs supporting research training, career development, or research education that require instruction in responsible conduct of research as stated in the relevant funding opportunity announcements.

 

What kind of training is required? Unlike NSF or USDA NIFA RCR requirements which can be satisfied by online training through the CITI program, NIH requires training to be “face-to-face.” Specifically, 8 hours of unique face-to-face presentation material are required by NIH. The February remote RCR training sessions may be utilized to satisfy this requirement.

 

How do I sign up? Please visit the UConn RCR website for a list of the sessions offered along with registration links. 

 

To learn more about the NIH RCR requirement or other options to satisfy NIH’s RCR training requirement, please visit the UConn RCR website.

 

Questions? Please contact Research Compliance Monitor, Ellen Ciesielski at eciesielski@uchc.edu.

January Responsible Conduct of Research Training

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Please join us as we kick off our new monthly in-person Responsible Conduct of Research training offerings! 

 

The Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Program within Research Integrity & Compliance in the OVPR is developing a series of monthly in-person RCR training sessions. For our January event, we will meet to view the Office of Research Integrity’s (ORI) interactive movie: “The Lab – Avoiding Research Misconduct.” The movie is designed as a “choose your own adventure”-type experience to allow participants to work through some common pitfalls and challenges in a low-risk environment. This 1.5-hour event will count towards the 8-hour in person requirement for NIH. For more details about RCR requirements, please visit our RCR Program website.

 

Space is limited so registration is required. To register, please email Research Compliance Monitor, Ellen Ciesielski. For questions, please contact Karen Moré, Director of Research Compliance.

 

What: January RCR in-person training, The Lab – Avoiding Research Misconduct

When: Monday, January 22nd from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Where: Babbidge Library, Class of ’47 Classroom

Responsible Conduct of Research Training

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Please join us as we kick off our new monthly in-person Responsible Conduct of Research training offerings! 

 

The Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Program within Research Integrity & Compliance in the OVPR is developing a series of monthly in-person RCR training sessions. For this first event, we will meet to view the Office of Research Integrity’s (ORI) interactive movie: “The Lab – Avoiding Research Misconduct.” The movie is designed as a “choose your own adventure”-type experience to allow participants to work through some common pitfalls and challenges in a low-risk environment. This 1.5-hour event will count towards the 8-hour in person requirement for NIH. For more details about RCR requirements, please visit our RCR Program website.

 

Space is limited so registration is required. To register, please email Research Compliance Monitor, Ellen Ciesielski. For questions, please contact Karen Moré, Director of Research Compliance.

 

What: December RCR in-person training, The Lab – Avoiding Research Misconduct

When: Tuesday, December 12th from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Where: Babbidge Library, Class of ’47 Classroom

New NSF Responsible Conduct of Research Requirement— Effective 7/31/23

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UConn is committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards in the performance, reporting, reviewing and proposing of research and scholarly activity. In support of this commitment and to fulfill funder requirements, UConn offers Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training and education with the goal of engaging researchers in the exploration of best ethical practices.

A recent National Science Foundation (NSF) requirement expansion includes RCR training for faculty and other senior personnel, and will require that the training address mentor training and mentorship. These new requirements apply to NSF proposals submitted on or after July 31, 2023.

A list of RCR trainings at UConn that fulfill NSF RCR requirements can be found on our UConn RCR webpage. Be on the lookout for additions to the RCR offerings in the coming months!

 

ClinicalTrials.gov Modernization Efforts

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Let your voice be heard! ClinicalTrials.gov is getting a facelift and the National Library of Medicine wants your feedback.

 

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is holding a virtual public meeting to discuss the ongoing modernization efforts for ClinicalTrials.gov on April 25th, 2023, from 12:30 – 3:00 p.m. They will provide a detailed look at the current beta websites– both the public-facing ClinicalTrials.gov site as well as the entry system site for researchers, known as the Protocol Registration and Results System or PRS. They will provide progress updates and ask for feedback from stakeholders. For the meeting agenda and a link to register, visit the NLM website.

For questions regarding ClinicalTrials.gov at UConn and UConn Health, please contact local PRS Administrator, Ellen Ciesielski.

NIH Plan to Enhance Public Access to the Results of NIH-Supported Research (NIH Public Access Plan)

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The Office of the Vice President for Research would like to share some information with researchers who may be affected.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is hosting a virtual, public listening session next Wednesday, April 12, 2023, from 1:00 – 3:00 pm for feedback on the NIH Plan to Enhance Public Access to the Results of NIH-Supported Research (NIH Public Access Plan). The virtual listening session will be viewable through NIH Videocast. Further information about the listening session, including the agenda and how to sign up to make oral comments, can be found on the event page of the Office of Science Policy (OSP) website. The slots for oral comments will be provided in the order they are received until all slots have been filled, and must be received by April 10, 2023.

Written Request for Information (RFI) responses on the NIH Public Access Plan will continue to be accepted until April 24, 2023.

For questions, you can contact OSP at SciencePolicy@od.nih.gov.

 

Research Compliance Quarterly Winter 2023

In This Issue:

  • IACUC inspections

  • ACS personnel updates

  • EHS equipment reminder

  • IRB new forms

  • Research Safety-Economic Espionage

 

 

 

 

IACUC Inspections in April

Spring Semiannual Inspections are coming up during the month of April! The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) Office will reach out for availability during the first two weeks of April so please be sure that you and any lab staff are available to show the IACUC your lab and to give a brief explanation of what you do and how you do it.

Some helpful tips include:

  • Ensure logs (eye washes, scissor maintenance, surgery, etc.) are up to date.
  • Know what is in your approved IACUC protocol so you can answer any questions the IACUC may have for you. For example, what procedures are done and how is the area prepared beforehand? What happens to the animal before, during, and after the procedure?
  • If you have any drugs or substances, ensure that they are in-date or are properly discarded prior to the inspection.

Do you have a protocol expiring soon? Be sure to lookout for reminder notices from iacuc@uconn.edu and submit as early as possible to facilitate the review process. Please reach out and request any documents or information from the IACUC Office.

Did you just get notified that you’ll be receiving federal funding? Let the IACUC Office know as soon as you can so that we can perform a congruency check and ensure that the information from the grant matches what is in your IACUC protocol. If it doesn’t match, a modification may be needed, so please give yourself plenty of time!

Nick Lacafta, IACUC Specialist

Mark Johnson, IACUC Specialist/Post Approval Monitor

 

Congratulations on the promotion!

Animal Care Services (ACS) would like to announce two recent promotions!

Cassie Leone, RLAT, was promoted from Animal Care Technician to Veterinary Technician (Animal Care Specialist).

Briana Lechkun, LAT, was promoted from Animal Care Specialist to Animal Care Manager.

Job Opening! ACS is currently looking to fill an Animal Care Specialist position.

Looking for more information about ACS? The ACS website offers many helpful tools such as animal/drug ordering, per diem rates, policies/SOPs/Guidelines, and grant information to help principal investigators, lab staff and students successfully and compliantly move their research forward. Also, feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns!

Curtis Schondelmeyer, DVM, CPIA, DACLAM— Director and Attending Veterinarian

 

Purchasing, Acquiring, or Relocating Laboratory Equipment?

Reminder: Please inform Environmental Health Services (EHS) of locations of newly acquired or relocated Biosafety cabinets, x-ray, and laser equipment for registration updates. Contact us at ehs@uconn.edu.

For more information on restricted equipment/materials requiring EHS review or approval, visit https://ehs.uconn.edu/employees/equipment-purchases-and-acquisitions/

Terri Dominguez, University Director

 

 

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

The IRB Office is in the process of developing resources that we hope are of help to our research community. Two of those resources have recently been posted to the IRB Submissions, Forms & Templates webpage. In the “Templates” section, under “Consent Templates” are links to an NIH resource, “Informed Consent for Secondary Research with Data and Biospecimens,” and a Consent Checklist for Investigators document. The NIH resource includes some general points to consider when planning to seek permission for the future research use of data and biospecimens along with some sample language. The Consent Checklist for Investigators mirrors that used by the IRB when evaluating whether a consent document includes all required and “as applicable” elements of consent. We hope that this is helpful as a self QA check prior to submitting consent materials to the IRB.

We also plan to create a section on our website with some resources to help investigators understand NIH’s requirements and recommendations for human participant research subject to the updated Data Management & Sharing Policy. In the meantime, we encourage investigators to review the information the Library has made available on their webpage: NIH Data Management and Sharing Requirements. Please let us know if you have other suggestions for resources: irb@uconn.edu.

And please join us in welcoming our newest IRB Program Specialist, Jeanelle Graham! Jeanelle comes to us with many years of experience as an IRB professional and it is already apparent that she is a great addition to our team!

Questions about human subjects research or IRB? Contact us at irb@uconn.edu.

 

A Message from Research Security

Economic Espionage

Economic espionage is foreign power-sponsored or coordinated intelligence activity directed at the U.S. government or U.S. corporations, establishments, or persons, designed to unlawfully or clandestinely influence sensitive economic policy decisions or to unlawfully obtain sensitive financial, trade, or economic policy information; proprietary economic information; or critical technologies. This theft, through open and clandestine methods, can provide foreign entities with vital proprietary economic information at a fraction of the true cost of its research and development, causing significant economic losses.

Our Nation’s secrets are in jeopardy, the same secrets that make your company profitable. The FBI estimates billions of U.S. dollars are lost to foreign competitors every year. These foreign competitors deliberately target economic intelligence in advanced technologies and flourishing U.S. industries.

Foreign competitors operate under three categories to create an elaborate network of spies:

  • Aggressively target present and former foreign nationals working for U.S. companies and research institutions;
  • Recruit and perform technical operations to include bribery, discreet theft, dumpster diving (in search of discarded trade secrets) and wiretapping; and,
  • Establish seemingly innocent business relationships between foreign companies and U.S. industries to gather economic intelligence including proprietary information.

What Are Trade Secrets?

Trade secrets are all forms and types of financial, business, scientific, technical, economic or engineering information, including patterns, plans, compilations, program devices, formulas, designs, prototypes, methods, techniques, processes, procedures, programs, or codes, whether tangible or intangible, and whether or how stored, complied, or memorialized physically, electronically, graphically, photographically or in writing, (1) which the owner has taken reasonable measures to protect; and (2) which have an independent economic value from not being generally known to the public.

Commonly referred to as proprietary information, economic policy information, trade information, proprietary technology, or critical technology.

What Are Some Methods Of Targeting Or Acquiring Trade Secrets?

  • Steal, conceal, or carry away by fraud, artifice, or deception;
  • Copy, duplicate, sketch, draw, photograph, download, upload, alter, destroy, photocopy, replicate, transmit, deliver, send, mail, communicate, or convey; and,
  • Receive, buy, or possess a trade secret, knowing the same to have been stolen or appropriated, obtained, or converted without authorization.

Know The Signs

  • Working odd hours without authorization
  • Taking proprietary information home without authorization
  • Unnecessarily copying material
  • Disregarding company policies on personal software and hardware
  • Accessing restricted websites
  • Downloading confidential material
  • Conducting unauthorized research

Personal Behaviors

  • Unexplained short trips to foreign countries
  • Engaging in suspicious personal contacts with competitors, business partners or unauthorized individuals
  • Buying items they normally cannot afford
  • Overwhelmed by life crises or career disappointments
  • Showing concern about being investigated

Common Factors

  • Financial need
  • Greed
  • Unhappiness in the workplace
  • Different allegiances to another company or country
  • Drug/Alcohol abuse
  • Vulnerability to blackmail
  • Job offers from other organizations

Targeted Industries Or Sectors

  • Information and communication technology
  • Business information that pertains to supplies of scarce natural resources or that provides global actors an edge in negotiations with U.S. businesses or the U.S. government
  • Military technologies (marine systems, unmanned aerial vehicles, and aerospace/aeronautic technologies)
  • Civilian and dual-use technologies in fast-growing sectors (clean energy, health care and pharmaceuticals, and agricultural technology)
  • Academia

As part of a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of the growing economic espionage threat, the FBI has released a short video, “The Company Man: Protecting America’s Secrets.” Based on an actual case, the video illustrates how one company was targeted by foreign actors and what the FBI did to help.

Contact the UConn Research Security Office at researchsecurity@uconn.edu with any concerns or questions. If you suspect economic espionage is taking place, you can also file an anonymous report at compliance.uconn.edu.

Research Compliance in the News

 

Research Compliance Services
Office of the Vice President for Research
Research Compliance Services
438 Whitney Road Extension
Storrs, CT 06269

Research Integrity & Compliance

Important Notice on Proposal Submission Policy

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Revision Date: March 8, 2021 – revisions in italics

As an applicant organization, UConn/UConn Health has an institutional responsibility to verify the accuracy, validity, conformity, and eligibility of all applications submitted to a sponsor on behalf of the University. We have been exploring how to ensure the best delivery of services, meet sponsor and institutional policy requirements that were highlighted in the recent NSF audit, and to ensure that the University has sufficient time to review and certify proposals and increase the number of successful applications. To that end, we have conducted a survey of all faculty who submitted grant proposals within the last two years, listened to the research community’s comments at town halls, and solicited input from the President, Provost, deans, associate deans for research, the President’s Research Advisory Council, University Senate, and other faculty groups.

This listening process revealed that one of the main challenges for both investigators and staff is the bottleneck that occurs immediately prior to proposal submission. In recent years, nearly two-thirds of proposals submitted (with all components ready) are received by Sponsored Program Services (SPS) within one working day or less of the sponsor deadline.

Numerous proposals are being submitted just barely in time, meaning there is little time for a thorough review. Additionally, proposals that have been submitted to SPS far in advance also routinely lack a timely and thorough review because other proposals with an earlier deadline came in and “cut the line.”

To begin to remedy the proposal submission bottleneck, beginning May 5, 2021, the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) will implement the current policy on internal deadlines for the review and submission of sponsored project proposals. The process change aims to reduce last day proposal submissions and will prioritize proposals as received. Once the policy is implemented, final administrative components of a proposal must be received by SPS Pre-Award at least five full business days in advance of the submission due date (along with a draft of the scientific components). The final submission ready proposal is due to SPS no later than noon the day before the sponsor deadline.

Exceptions include short turnaround RFPs, last minute sponsor requests, or a last minute opportunity to join a proposal under submission by another institution. Also, each UConn investigator will be given one pass to use in the event they are not able to meet the internal five-day deadline. As is the current practice, SPS Pre-Award will make every effort to submit these proposals when possible. Please visit the OVPR website for additional information and FAQs regarding the internal deadline policy.

To increase faculty support related to proposal preparation, the OVPR will be taking the following additional steps:

  • The OVPR is working to address situations where investigators do not have dedicated administrative support for the preparation of a proposal; we will continue to increase staff training opportunities, extend faculty service offerings, and work to simplify the submission process.
  • The OVPR will implement a dashboard to increase transparency and provide information on the status and order of review.
  • The OVPR will provide additional research development services, such as grant editing and proofreading, proposal review, large and complex grant support, and research funding consultation. Further information regarding these services and how to request them is available on the OVPR Research Development section of this website.
  • The OVPR will continue to work with and incorporate feedback from faculty working groups.  Upon recommendation of the University Senate, the President formed a sponsored projects working group to identify impediments to the expeditious review of sponsored project proposals in advance of deadlines.  The group’s report is available on the University Senate website.

 

Development, review, and submission timeline:

Full Business Days Before Submission Deadline

>6 days: PI provides application components to local grants administrator (or Faculty Services)

5 days: Complete application (plus draft scientific components) and IPR submitted to SPS

5-2 days: SPS reviews proposal and provides feedback

2 days: Corrections made and all approvals in place

Noon day before deadline: Final proposal and PI authorization to submit to sponsor provided to SPS

1-0 days before deadline: Proposal submitted

SPS is responsible for ensuring that applications are compliant and that institutional and sponsor guidelines are met including administrative, management, and scientific information. Please contact Paul Hudobenko (hudobenko@uchc.edu/UConn Health) or Mark Reeves (mark.reeves@uconn.edu/Storrs and Regionals) with questions as we move to a consistent and sustainable process.

Thank you for your continued cooperation in our collaborative efforts to advance UConn’s mission through innovative research, scholarship, and creative pursuits.

 

NIH policy on registration/results posting of Basic Experimental Studies with Humans (BESH)

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NIH’s clinical trial definition includes prospective basic science studies involving human participants. Basic Experimental Studies with Humans (BESH) use an intervention to understand fundamental aspects of a phenomena without specific application towards processes or products in mind. NIH published clinical trial case studies with examples of BESH (cases 9, 14, 40 & 41).

 

NIH funded clinical trials, including BESH, are required to register and post results in ClinicalTrials.gov. On Monday, December 7th from 3:00-4:00 pm, Rebecca Williams, Acting Director of ClinicalTrials.gov, and Elisa Golfinopoulos will present the results of the National Library of Medicine analysis of challenges and considerations for registration and results information reporting of BESH in ClinicalTrials.gov. You may send questions before or during the event to SciencePolicy@od.nih.gov with the Subject “BESH Webinar”

 

Webinar: Monday, December 7, 2020 3:00-4:00 PM https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=40141

 

For more information about ClinicalTrials.gov, including assistance with registration, please contact Research Compliance Monitor, Ellen Ciesielski at eciesielski@uchc.edu.

 

 

 

 

New FDA Guidance for Civil Money Penalties for ClinicalTrials.gov Non-Compliance

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On August 12, 2020, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a final guidance document titled “Civil Money Penalties relating to the Clinical Trials.gov Data Bank.” The guidance clarifies how the FDA identifies whether responsible parties have failed to submit required clinical trial registrations or results to ClinicalTrials.gov, or knowingly submitted false or misleading information, and details the applicable fines, including “$10,000 for each day that the violation continues” and potential civil or criminal penalties. Applicable clinical trials include interventional studies evaluating at least one drug, biological, or device product regulated by the FDA.

For more information about ClinicalTrials.gov, including assistance with registration, please contact Research Compliance Monitor, Ellen Ciesielski at eciesielski@uchc.edu.

Undergraduate Participation in On-Campus Summer 2020 Lab/Field Research

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  • The Office of Undergraduate Research and the Office of the Vice President for Research have release guidance on undergraduate participation in on-campus lab/field research during the summer.

    Process to request Undergraduate Student participation in research:

    • The Undergraduate Student should complete and submit the Undergraduate Student Research Request Form. Once submitted, this will be emailed automatically to both the Office of Undergraduate Research and OVPR.
    • The faculty member wanting to add one or more undergraduate students to an approved safety plan should complete and submit the Request to Include Undergraduate Students Form.
    • Once BOTH forms are received, the OVPR will respond with an Approval to both the student and faculty member.
    • For questions or concerns contact the OVPR at ovpr@uconn.edu or Office of Undergraduate Research at our@uconn.edu.

    For more information on safely conducting research during the COVID-19 pandemic, visit the OVPR’s COVID-19 Resource page.

Guidance for Reopening Research Involving Human Subjects

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The Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) has developed new guidance related to resuming human subjects research. The guidance outlines the minimum safety procedures that must be in place in order for UConn and UConn Health investigators to be approved by the OVPR to reopen or initiate new human subjects research. Principal investigators (PIs) must tailor their safety plans to meet the needs of each individual research situation.

Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) is available to answer safety related questions from PIs. If you have safety related questions, please email ehs@uconn.edu if your human subject research activities are conducted at the Storrs or regional campuses or call (860) 679-2723 if these activities are taking place at UConn Health.

For more information, visit the OVPR’s COVID-19 Resource page.