MSU is committed to helping graduate and graduate-professional students conduct research, creative activity, and scholarship with the highest ethical standards. To this end, The Graduate School (TGS) requires all graduate and graduate-professional students to complete Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research (RECR) education. The current education program (est. 2017) is comprised of (i) a basic component (Years One and Two) consisting of on-line training modules and a series of instructor-led, discussion-based workshops and (ii) an annual refresher component (Years Three and beyond, Ph.D. students only). TGS offers a series of workshops each academic year that can be used to fulfill the basic education requirements. These workshops cover topics pertinent to research integrity. They allow for interactive discussion, case studies to be reviewed, and questions to be answered on key topics such as mentoring, authorship, plagiarism, research misconduct and detrimental research practices, data management, etc. These workshops build upon the foundational aspects introduced in the on-line CITI modules. Moreover, these sessions serve to develop a culture of responsible conduct and ethical awareness, as well as fulfilling the in-person discussion hours and content required by federal funding agencies (e.g., NIH, NSF and USDA-NIFA).
Workshop Series Coordinators
Dr. Greg Swain, RECR Education Coordinator, Tel. 517-353-1090, swain@chemistry.msu.edu
Topics for 2025-2026 RECR Workshops
Discussions will be framed around a main presentation given by Dr. Greg Swain, or by other individuals from key units across campus. The purpose for these workshops is to help students better understand the importance of responsible behavior, learn about proper research and creative activity practices, and connect to important regulatory and information offices across the MSU campus. Each topic, as listed below, is paralleled by a CITI lesson such that a student could pair an online module with a discussion session.
All instructor-led workshops will be conducted virtually at the designated time, 6:00-7:30 pm. Zoom webinar link information will be provided to registrants. Each session, unless otherwise noted will be worth 1.5 hours of credit.
All workshop slides and other materials can be found in Ability as “Class Documents” under each workshop/course.
Ethics in Research and Creative Activity, and Effective Mentoring (RCR-1200-ILTVC), September 9, 2025
Case Studies in Mentoring (RCR-1201-ILTVC), September 23, 2025, 6:00 - 7:00 pm (1 h)
Authorship, Plagiarism and Peer Review (RCR-4195-ILTVC), October 7, 2025
Case Studies in Authorship and Plagiarism (RCR-4196-ILTVC), October 21, 2025, 6:00 - 7:00 pm (1 h)
Detrimental Research Practices, Teamwork and Conflict Resolution (RCR-3647-ILTVC), November 11, 2025
Record Keeping, Data Management, and Sharing Information (RCR-3628-ILTVC), December 9, 2025
Research Misconduct and Reporting (RCR-3390-ILTVC), January 13, 2026
Research Collaborations and Student Conflicts of Interest (RCR-3649-ILTVC), January 27, 2026
Animal Subjects and Animal Use Protocols (RCR-3392-ILTVC), February 10, 2026
Human Subjects and Human Use Protocols (RCR-3391-ILTVC), March 10, 2026
Rigor and Reproducibility in Research (RCR-3393-ILTVC), April 7, 2026
Non-Disclosure Agreements, Intellectual Property and Export Controls (RCR-3648-ILTVC), April 21, 2026
Summer Workshops 2026
All Summer workshops will be conducted virtually at the designated time, 9:00am-10:30am.
Ethics in Research and Creative Activity, and Effective Mentoring (RCR-1200-ILTVC), June 2, 2026
Authorship, Plagiarism and Peer Review (RCR-4195-ILTVC), June 9, 2026
Detrimental Research Practices, Teamwork and Conflict Resolution (RCR-3647-ILTVC), June 16, 2026
Possible Options for Annual Refresher RECR Education
The Center for Statistical Training and Consultation (CSTAT) at MSU offers seminars and workshops regularly (at least once each semester) that can fulfill Annual Refresher RECR Education requirements. Details on the workshops and other events can be found at https://cstat.msu.edu/events.
Participation in the VERITIES Initiative workshops. VERITIES is an NSF-supported institutional transformation initiative here at MSU that aims to foster a culture of excellence and integrity in university and professional settings by infusing traditional Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research (RECR) education with an appreciation and understanding of the scientific virtues. Details can be found at https://veritiesinitiative.msu.edu/.
Do you still need to fulfill your annual Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) requirement? The NSF-sponsored VERITIES Initiative will run two 90-minute RCR workshops this summer, the first on Thursday, June 26, from 1-2:30 pm ET, and then repeated on Wednesday, July 23 from 3 — 4:30 pm ET.
VERITIES workshops focus on the scientific virtues, tying responsible conduct to the pursuit of research excellence. These discussion-based workshops give participants an opportunity to reflect on the aspirational values of the research community and share their experiences and insights with other graduate students, postdocs, and faculty. The two workshops will be virtual and conducted via Zoom. Please sign up for one of the VERITIES workshops below.
June 26 workshop registration
July 23 workshop registration
RCR
RCR