The responsibility for assuring compliance is a cooperative effort involving principal investigators, students, post doctoral researchers, department administrators, and the Offices of Sponsored Awards Management and Research Compliance. The following procedures define the roles and responsibilities of each of these parties.
The Principal Investigator (PI) is responsible for fostering an environment of, and providing guidance in, the ethical and responsible conduct of research for individuals under his/her supervision. The PI must assure that individuals will complete the specified education requirements related to ethical and responsible conduct of research, and provide discipline specific mentoring to his/her students and post doctoral associates during the course of the sponsored project.
Students and postdoctoral researchers are responsible for completing the required training in a timely manner and availing themselves of opportunities to further inform themselves regarding the responsible conduct of research in their specific area of inquiry.
Colleges and departments are required to assure compliance with this plan for all qualifying awards they administer.
The Office of Sponsored Awards Management (SAM) is responsible for certifying on each proposal that USC has a plan for complying with the RCR requirement. In making this assurance, SAM will rely on the Principal Investigator's certification of compliance contained in the USCeRA Proposal/Award Processing Form. Upon receipt of a qualifying award, SAM will remind the Principal Investigator and Departmental Administrator that they must comply with the RCR training requirement.
The Office of Research Compliance is responsible for providing oversight, educational resources, and monitoring compliance with this plan. ORC will perform routine audits of training records to help ensure institutional compliance with the RCR requirements. The Director of the ORC is charged with overseeing compliance with the RCR training requirement.
Consequences of Non-compliance
Failure to comply with RCR standards may result in sanctions imposed by USC, such as restricting access to grant funds, or revocation of the award by the sponsoring agency.