Harvard To Institute Research Ethics Training

Harvard has instituted a new policy that requires all science students conducting research to receive ethics training, University officials say.

Within the next month, the University will finalize plans for meeting the new responsible research training requirements mandated by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation for all researchers, including undergraduates, supported by NIH or NSF funding, according to Harvard’s Chief Research Compliance Officer Mark Barnes.

The University—which received two-thirds of its $559 million of federal funding from the two agencies in the fiscal year ending 2009—has purchased a subscription to an online ethics education course and is considering incorporating ethics training in regular coursework for undergraduates, Barnes said.

“We’re using this as an opportunity to put into place responsible conduct that is broader than what is required,” Barnes said.

“These requirements ... are really only outlining what is good practice anyway, that individuals who are engaged in research need to have education about responsible conduct of research,” he said.

To help implement the new policy, the Office of the Vice Provost for Research has created a task force comprising representatives from the four schools most affected by the change—the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health, and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Daniel I. Wikler, a professor of population ethics at the School of Public Health, said that teaching research ethics is increasingly important as the number of ethical violations increases nationwide.

“There’s kind of an epidemic of misconduct now,” Wikler said. “Often now we see situations where something bad happens and say, ‘Look—if we’d had a program in place where people know what to do in these circumstances, it would have been better.’”

Wikler, who co-teaches a course on ethical issues in health research, added that he thinks even basic ethics training at the science schools would be beneficial for students.

“One of the reasons misconduct is causing such consternation is because when someone has these charges raised against them, it can put a big cloud over their career for a while, and it’s often extremely hard to clear themselves,” he said. “This training is really in the self-interest of the trainee.”

—Staff writer Elias J. Groll can be reached at egroll@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer William N. White can be reached at wwhite@fas.harvard.edu.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

CORRECTION: April 10, 2010

An earlier version of the April 10 news article "Harvard To Institute Research Ethics Training" incorrectly stated that the University will finalize plans for meeting the new responsible research training requirements for "grant recipients conducting experiements on animals." In fact, the new policy applies to all researchers, including undergraduates, supported by NIH or NSF funding. The subheadline has also been changed to reflect the inaccuracy.