Research Security Training Course Details

Course Requirements

Who should take this course?

U-M faculty, students, staff, and others (e.g., contractors, visitors, external collaborators) are required to take the Research Security Training course when they are listed in any of the following roles on a Proposal Approval Form (PAF) or identified as a "covered individual" per sponsor guidelines on a proposal, contract or award for external funding:

• UM Principal Investigator (PI)
• UM Sponsor Investigator (typically a research fellow or student acting as the PI for a project)
• Participating Investigator with Specified Effort
• Participating Investigator without Specified Effort
• Other Non-faculty Investigator

U-M requires all investigators and covered individuals listed on a proposal approval form (PAF) or award (AWD) record to complete research security training within the 12 months prior to ORSP approving the PAF (e.g., submitting a funding proposal, executing the award for a grant/contract, or award modification).

How much time does this course take to complete?

Expect to spend approximately 1 hour completing this course. To receive certification in this course you must review all of the course pages. There is not a scored assessment associated with this course.

Do I need to renew certification in this course?

Following federal guidelines, U-M requires certification in Research Security Training  annually for those listed as an investigator on a PAF, AWD, or award modification or identified as a covered individual per sponsor guidelines. Certification is renewable by re-taking the course.

Additional Information

This course is a combined and condensed version of the four NSF Research Security training modules offered through the NSF SECURE Center. U-M accepts certificates of completion for the full NSF training, the NSF Secure Center condensed version, the CITI condensed version, or another academic institution's condensed version as an equivalent to U-M's course.  

Visit U-M's International Engagement Federal-wide Research Security Efforts webpage for further information about research security training requirements and options.

Course Outline

The topics covered in the Research Security course are:

• Research security introduction
  • Research security definition
  • Researcher responsibilities
• Key federal regulations
• Core values of academic research that support research security
• Importance of disclosure for research security
  • Disclosure definition
  • Conflict of Interest vs. Conflict of Commitment
  • Activities, affiliations, and support to be disclosed
  • Non-disclosure consequences
• Importance of international collaboration
  • Risk mitigation and management