It is essential that any research which involves humans or animals be in accordance with the College's Institutional Review Board Policy. Copies of that policy are available from our office or from members of the Institutional Review Board, whose chair is Jason Nier.
The legal requirements to protect human subjects apply to a broad range of research. While most of us understand the need for human subjects to give informed consent when participating in clinical drug trials, we may not realize that data collected through interaction or intervention with individuals are also covered by the federal requirement. Interaction includes interpersonal contact, surveys, and other forms of communication. All research (including interviews, surveys, and questionnaires) involving humans as subjects must be reviewed by the IRB.
Connecticut College complies with the regulations of the Department of Health and Human Services for the protection of human subjects involved in research (45 CFR 46 as amended and published in the Federal Register on June 18, 1991).
Training in the Protection of Human Research Participants
Since 2000, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has required education on the protection of human research participants for investigators and all key personnel involved in the design or conduct of NIH-funded human subjects research. For more information, see http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-00-039.html and NIH’s Human Subjects Research FAQs (https://grants.nih.gov/policy/hs/faqs.htm).
To meet this training requirement by NIH and other granting agencies as applicable, the College subscribes to Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI), an online suite of training programs.
To access the CITI training modules, go to https://about.citiprogram.org/en/homepage/, press the “Register” button, and create a new account, affiliating yourself with Connecticut College. Users who already have a CITI account should select the “Log in” button and affiliate the existing account with Connecticut College. Students should consult with their course professor or research advisor to determine which CITI module(s) is appropriate for their project.
Please direct further questions to irb@conncoll.edu.
Training in Animal Care and Use
The animal care and use courses offered by Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) are designed to meet U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) requirements for basic training in the humane care and use of animals.
To access the CITI training modules, go to https://about.citiprogram.org/en/homepage/, press the “Register” button, and create a new account, affiliating yourself with Connecticut College. Users who already have a CITI account should select the “Log in” button and affiliate the existing account with Connecticut College. Students should consult with their course professor or research advisor to determine which CITI module(s) is appropriate for their project.