Human Subjects Training

Radford University utilizes the CITI Program training service for research with human subjects. 

All Radford University faculty, staff, students, and research associates conducting research involving human subjects must complete an appropriate Human Subjects Training course prior to receiving final approval of their IRB protocol. 

The training status of incoming faculty, staff, students, or collaborators from other institutions who have completed their human subjects training at another institution or through a training source other than CITI or NIH's Protecting Human Research Participants Training will be reviewed for acceptance on a case-by-case basis. Those who have completed human subjects training other than CITI may submit their training information to the Radford IRB Administrator for review. The Radford University IRB Administrator has the final determination regarding any substituted human subjects training course.   

CITI Human Subjects Training 

Register/create an account in CITI.  Please do not use your Radford University log-in credentials (e.g., username and password) to attempt to log in to CITI.  

  • If you already have an account in CITI through another institution and are new to Radford University, please access CITI using that account and affiliate your account with Radford University. 
  • To change your Learner Group once a course has been selected, log in to CITI and select "Add a Course or Update Learner Groups", located just below your existing course options. 

Note: CITI completion certificates are valid for three (3) years. You do not need to upload your CITI certificates to the IRBManager application. CITI training will be confirmed by the IRB office.  

CITI Training Requirements for Faculty and Staff Researchers  

  • Select the Learner Group* entitled "Social & Behavioral Investigators"  or "Biomedical Research"
  • Complete ONLY the course entitled "Social & Behavioral Research - Basic/Refresher, Basic Course"  
  • For research involving patient-contact, complete the CITI course entitled "Biomedical Research - Basic/Refresher" 

CITI Training Requirements for Students

Students should complete the appropriate CITI course related to the level of risk to human subjects. 

  • Students Conducting No More than Minimal Research as part of a class project should complete "Students-Class Projects." This course is appropriate for students doing class projects that qualify as "No More than Minimal Risk" human subjects research. These are primarily Exempt and most Expedited submissions.  
  • Students whose projects Involve Greater than Minimal Risk** to Participants should complete the appropriate CITI course related to the type of research being conducted. This may include Social & Behavioral Research-Basic/Refresher or Biomedical Research-Basic/Refresher. Some of these are Expedited and ALL are full Board submissions. 

*Minimal Risk to subjects is defined as the probability and magnitude of harm or discomfort anticipated in the research are not greater than those ordinarily encountered in everyday life. 

**Greater than Minimal Risk to the subject means that the probability and magnitude of harm or discomfort anticipated in the research are more than minimal risk, but not significantly greater.