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Human Research Protections Training

Northwestern University requires all individuals involved in the conduct of human research to complete human research protections training and to re-certify their training every 3 years. IRB approval will be withheld if these training requirements are not met. These requirements apply to all persons engaged in human research and listed on the eIRB+ study application. Those individuals include, but are not limited to:

  • Principal Investigator and Co-investigators,
  • Individuals named on a study grant or contract proposal,
  • Individuals listed on an FDA form 1572 for the conduct of the research at NU or at an affiliate institution,
  • Individuals who are responsible for the informed consent process or recruitment of research participants, and
  • Individuals who obtain individually identifiable health information under a Northwestern Business Associate Agreement or Northwestern Individual Investigator Agreement.

Initial Training

For Northwestern and Northwestern affiliate research personnel, any of the following training options satisfies the initial training requirements: 

For unaffiliated or community-based research personnel:

Re-Certification

Re-certification is required every 3 years.  For Northwestern and Northwestern affiliate research personnel, any of the following training options satisfies the initial training requirements: 

  • CITI Human Research Protections: Refresher Course - Please note, the CITI refresher course may fulfill this requirement 3 times.  The CITI basic course will be required on the 4th recertification. 
  • NIH Online Training – As of September 26, 2018, this training is no longer available.

For unaffiliated or community-based research personnel:

Training Verification

  • Training information should be verified in eIRB+ using the “Study Team Training” tab on each specific project record. 
  • If training is completed at another institution or through any method other than CITI with Northwestern University affiliation you must send a copy of your completion report to irbtraining@northwestern.edu to determine if it meets Northwestern's training requirements and to update your eIRB+ profile. 
  • Completing training through CITI does NOT register you to use eIRB+. Northwestern staff and/or affiliates must create an eIRB+ profile separately.  For more information please see our dedicated eIRB+ webpage.