Responsible Conduct of Research
Overview
BPP requires all of its Biomedical Postdoctoral Fellows to be trained in Responsible Conduct of Research. Our program is composed of a number of components including mandatory and elective options, which the trainee selects to meet the NIH Guidelines.
The BPP RCR Program includes the following:
Required completion of the CITI RCR training modules (covers content and provides a framework for discussions) within the first year of postdoc training and eight contact hours of RCR training within each career stage. Seminar series with discussions are led by faculty mentors. A minimum of twelve 60 minute sessions (see 2026 schedule below) will be offered per year covering the required topic areas.
Although the NIH Guidelines state that there “are no specific curricular requirements”, our RCR training will include these topic areas:
- conflict of interest personal, professional, and financial
- policies regarding human subjects, live vertebrate animal subjects in research, and safe laboratory practices
- mentor/mentee responsibilities and relationships
- collaborative research including collaborations with industry
- peer review
- data acquisition and laboratory tools; management, sharing and ownership
- research misconduct and policies for handling misconduct
- responsible authorship and publication
- the scientist as a responsible member of society, contemporary ethical issues in biomedical research, and the environmental and societal impacts of scientific research
Annually, we hosts the Responsible Conduct of Research Symposium in April. The symposium serves as an introduction to all RCR subject topics, including Scientific Rigor and Reproducibility, adopted by the recent National Institution of Health (NIH) recommendations (FY 2022 Updated Guidance: Requirement for Instructions in the Responsible Conduct of Research NOT-OD-22-055). This year's Responsible Conduct of Research Symposium is schedule for Tuesday, April 28, 2026, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM in the Biomedical Research Building, (BRB) Gaulton Auditorium and Lobby.
RCR Schedule
2026 Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Training Schedule
|
Date |
Leader |
Topic |
Location |
Time |
Registration |
|
01/27/2026 |
Recordkeeping, Reproducibility, and Authorship |
BRB 253 |
10:00 AM— 11:00 AM |
We are finalizing the Spring 2026 Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training schedule. Our workshops are open to the entire Penn community and provide training to promote ethical research practices, professional integrity, and compliance with federal regulations.
Penn and CHOP faculty volunteers play a critical role in leading RCR training workshops, contributing their expertise to support a strong culture of responsible research across our institutions.
Additional 2026 RCR training will be added on a rolling basis. Please check back regularly for updates.
Faculty interested in being a part of our 2026 faculty rotation schedule, please sign up or contact dcrawley@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.
|
Date |
Leader |
Topic |
Location |
Time |
|
03/11/2025 |
Joshua Gold, Ph.D. & Michael Nusbaum, Ph.D. |
Authorship & Publication Ethics |
BRB 253 |
1:00 PM— 2:00 PM |
|
04/08/2025 |
Ronen Marmorstein, Ph.D. |
Collaboration & Team Science |
BRB 1412 |
2:00 PM—3:00 PM |
|
05/06/2025 |
Eileen Lake, PhD, RN, FAAN & Karen Lasater, PhD, RN, FAAN |
|
|
|
|
06/25/2025 |
Elizabeth A Heller, PhD |
Reproducibility & Rigor in Research |
BRB 253 |
1:00 PM— 2:00 PM |
|
07/15/2025 |
Saar I. Gill, MD, PhD |
Transparency & Open Science |
BRB 252 |
2:00 PM—3:00 PM |
|
08/12/2025 |
Kathryn Connell, PhD, RN, CCRN & David Wolk, MD |
Mentorship & Leadership Ethics |
RCH B102AB |
3:00 PM—4:00 PM |
|
09/09/2025 |
Sydney M. Shaffer, MD, PhD |
Responsible Use of AI & Emerging Technologies |
BRB 252 |
3:00 PM—4:00 PM |
|
10/22/2025 |
Kristen W. Lynch, Ph.D. |
Conflict of Interest |
BRB 301 |
11:00 AM—12:00 PM |
|
12/02/2025 |
Andrew Paskevich |
Authorship & Research Misconduct |
BRB 252 |
10:00 AM— 11:00 AM |
|
Date |
Leader/ Co-Leaders |
Topic |
Location |
Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
02/14/2024 |
Ramon R. Diaz-Arrastia, MD, PhD |
Mentor/mentee responsibilities and relationships |
BRB 253 |
1:00 PM— 2:00 PM |
|
03/06/2024 |
Ivan P. Maillard, MD, PhD & Philip Gehrman, Ph.D., CBSM, FAASM |
Responsible authorship and publication |
Virtual |
2:00 PM—3:00 PM |
|
04/01/2024 |
Andrew Paskevich |
Research misconduct |
RCH B102AB |
11:00 AM—12:00 PM |
|
04/23/2024 |
Kurt A. Engleka, Ph.D., Waged Jafer, Ph.D., Ronen Marmorstein, Ph.D., Emma A. Meagher, M.D., Andrew Paskevich |
BPP 3rd Annual Responsible Conduct of Research Symposium **Special Event** |
CRB Auditorium |
11:00 AM—12:00 PM |
|
05/17/2024 |
Sandhitsu Das, Ph.D. & Melike Lakadamyali, Ph.D. |
Data management |
Stemmler 416-417 |
1:00 PM— 2:00 PM |
|
06/03/2024 |
James C. Gee, Ph.D. & Andrew Maidment, Ph.D. FAAPM FSBI |
Conflict of interest in research |
BRB 251 |
10:00 AM—11:00 AM |
|
07/16/2024 |
Christopher Hunter, B.Sc, Ph.D. & Nancy Speck, Ph.D. |
Collaborative research |
BRB 251 |
1:00 PM —2:00 PM |
|
08/29/2024 |
Waged Jafer, Ph.D. |
Safe research environments |
BRB 1412 |
11:45 AM—1:00 PM |
|
11/19/2024 |
Crystal Conn, Ph.D. & Andrew Modzelewski, Ph.D. |
Peer Review |
BRB252 |
1:30 PM— 2:30 PM |
|
12/10/2024 |
Sean Hennessy, PharmD, PhD |
Using AI in Research and Ethical Conduct of Clinical Trials |
BRB 253 |
3:00 PM—4:00 PM |
|
12/16/2024 |
Michael Harhay, PhD, MPH |
Authorship, Collaborations, and Mentoring |
Virtual |
12:30 PM—1:30 PM |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Topic |
Location |
Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
01/19/2023 |
Elizabeth Bassett, Ph.D. & Sarah Capasso, Ph.D. |
Responsible use of biohazardous material in research |
BRB 1412 |
11:00 AM— 12:00 PM |
|
02/10/2023 |
Ramon R. Diaz-Arrastia, MD, Ph.D. & Jessica Morgan, Ph.D. |
Policies regarding human subjects in research and safe laboratory practices |
BRB 253 |
1:30 PM—2:30 PM |
|
03/02/2023 |
Alexander Huang, MD |
Collaborative science |
Virtual |
10:30 AM— 11:30 AM |
|
04/03/2023 |
Jonathan Raper, Ph.D. |
Civility issues in research environments, including but not limited to, harassment, bullying, and inappropriate behavior |
BRB 1412 |
12:00 PM— 1:00 PM |
|
04/25/2023 |
Stephen Dinardo, Ph.D., Kurt Engleka, Ph.D., Kellie Ann Jurado, Ph.D., Andrew Paskevich, Ph.D., Jennifer Pinto-Martin, Ph.D., MP |
Annual RCR Symposium (Responsible Authorship & Publication, Scientific Rigor & Reproducibility (SRR), Mentor/ Mentee Relationships, Research Misconduct and Policies Handling It, Safe Research Environment: Mitigating Biases & Microaggression) |
BRB, Gaulton Auditorium |
11:00 AM— 2:00 PM |
|
05/11/2023 |
Daria V. Babushok, MD, PhD & |
Peer review and privileged information |
Virtual |
11:00 AM— 12:00 PM |
|
06/26/2023 |
Andrew Paskevich |
Research Misconduct |
BRB 251 |
1:00 PM— 2:00 PM |
|
08/07/2023 |
James Gee, Ph.D. & Andrew Maidment, Ph.D., FAAPM |
Data acquisition and analysis; laboratory tools; and recordkeeping practice |
Virtual |
12:00 PM— 1:00 PM |
|
12/18/2023 |
Diego Contreras, MD, PhD |
Policies regarding animal research subject |
BRB 253 |
11:00 AM— 12:00 PM |
Boilerplates
The boilerplate documents below can be used to assist with developing grant or other funding proposals. If you require additional letters of support, or information for your grant, please contact Joshua Darfler.
RCR Postdocs Training Boilerplate for Individual NIH Fellowships (2025)
BPP Events List (FY 2024-2025)
You can also access the list of past BPP progams (by academic year).
Additonal Resources
Office of the Vice Provost for Research | NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy (2023)
Biomedical Graduate Studies RCR & SRR
Principles of Responsible Conduct
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
National Institute of General Medical Sciences
NIH Guidelines
NIH Annual Review of Ethics (Case Studies)
Office of Research Integrity
ORI Introduction to the Responsible Conduct of Research
*Last updated on 12/23/2025