Research & Scholarship Integrity Program

All scholars and researchers face ethical issues over the course of their professional practices. Integral to the formation of your professional identity is an awareness and understanding of what responsible research and scholarship entails. 

 

The Research and Scholarship Integrity program familiarizes students and postdoctoral fellows with good research and scholarship practices and with some of the ethical issues they may encounter during their professional careers.  BC’s program is designed to meet the NIH and NSF requirements for Instruction in the Responsible Conduct of Research.

Contact

Erin Sibley, Ph.D.
Director, Office for Research Protections
Office of the Vice Provost for Research

Phone
617-552-1758

Email
erin.sibley@bc.edu

Address
Waul House 208
270 Hammond Street
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467

Ph.D. students and postdocs across the university must complete 8 hours of RSI programming (equivalent to four seminars) over their first two years at Boston College. Please note that as of Fall 2023, the following departments have opted out of the RSI program and will run their own research ethics programs: Nursing, Sociology, Philosophy, History, English, Theology, and Political Science. If you are a PhD student or postdoc in one of these programs, please contact your Chair for more information.

FALL 2024 REGISTRATION

Program Structure

All components of the program must be completed within your first two years at BC. Under the new format, doctoral students and postdocs must complete eight hours of RSI sessions. Each RSI session is two hours long, and we will offer four per semester.

This means that in your first two years at BC, you will need to take four 2-hour sessions out of the sixteen that are offered. 

Students working in a lab

Please note that during the 2024-25 school year, some sessions will be held in person, and some sessions will be held remotely, to accommodate as many participants as possible.

Schedule 2024-2025

Data Acquisition & Management, Copyright, Teaching, & Ethics

Speakers:

  • Matt Gregas (Research Services Director)
  • Elliot Hibbler (Scholarly Communication Librarian)
  • Kim Humphrey (Assistant Director Equitable Teaching & Learning)
  • Francesca Minonne (Assistant Director Graduate Student Programs)

Date:

Tuesday, September 17, 2024, 12:00pm-2:00pm

Where:

Corcoran Commons Heights Room

Lunch will be provided!


 

Rigor & Reproducibility

Speakers:

  • Tracy Costello, Ph.D. (Director, Postdoctoral Affairs and Graduate Student Development, University of South Flordia) 

Date:

Thursday, October 10, 2024, 2:00pm-4:00pm

Where:

On Zoom


 

Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Research

Speakers:

  • John Basl (Northeastern University)

Date:

Wednesday, November 6, 2024, 12:00pm-2:00pm

Where:

Corcoran Commons Heights Room

Lunch will be provided!


 

Academic Misconduct, Authorship Issues

Speakers:

  • Gretchen Brodnicki, MSW (Administrative Dean for Arts & Humanities at Harvard University)
  • Erin Sibley, Ph.D. (Director for Research Protections)
  • Dani Melendez, MSW (Assistant Director of Research Integrity)

Date:

Monday, December 2, 2024, 2:00pm-4:00pm

Where:

On Zoom


 

FAQ