Scaling Open Access Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research and Mentoring Trainings Across Academic Institutions 

This research is supported by the National Science Foundation’s Ethical and Responsible Research (ER2) Program and aims to develop research education materials designed to promote progress in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This work enhances research excellence and public trust through expanding access to research ethics and mentoring training. R1 universities, like the University of Utah, often have dedicated offices to support ethical and responsible research education, while primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) tend to lack similar resources. Yet, there is a pressing need to engage faculty and students from PUIs and other academic institutions in STEM ethics training, especially on the topic of mentoring. This project addresses this need within the State of Utah and provides much benefit to students, faculty, and other personnel by generating accessible and permanent research ethics training materials that can be used in a variety of academic settings. This project seeks to assist local academic institutions, and especially those lacking research education infrastructure.

The goal of this project is to expand access to high quality research ethics training in Utah and the Intermountain Region. To address this goal, the research team will develop and disseminate open access and customizable RECR and mentoring training within a network of public universities. The team will seek to accomplish three main aims: (1) Determine which factors are most effective in forming new approaches to RECR and mentoring training in STEM research fields; (2) Develop and disseminate customizable RECR and mentoring training modules; and (3) Quantify how and why these factors are effective in enhancing RECR and mentoring training. The research team will survey stakeholders across several higher education institutions in Utah and develop customizable modules using multiple education modalities. The project will deploy training modules through a clearinghouse website in 2026. The team will ensure that project findings and products are scalable and transferrable across STEM research fields.

To get involved in this project please reach out to Dr. Jesse Morris and the project team at recr@utah.edu.

Funded By: NSF Award 2316243