Human Research Protection Program

Required Training

The University of Georgia (UGA) has chosen to subscribe to the Collaborative IRB Training Initiative (CITI) for all of its online based human research training. All UGA researchers who are engaged in human research must complete an educational program on ethics and procedures for the use of human subjects research from CITI before the IRB may review a submission.

CITI Training Records may take up to 24 hours to update in the IRB portal. The submit activity will run only when the current training record date is visible on the Training Records page of a submission.

Click the boxes below for resources related to each step of the human research process.

Required
Training

Plan &
Collaborate

Develop &
Submit

Review &
Respond

Post Approval
& Reporting

How do I access and complete Human Subjects/IRB CITI Training?

Access the portal
To complete the IRB training, you must access the Professional Education Portal (PEP).
Log in using your UGA MyID and password.
Using the search box in the top-right corner of the screen, search for “CITI” and choose a course.
Click “Launch.” This will take you to the CITI website.
Click “Add a course” under “My Learner Tools for University of Georgia” in the lower left
part of the screen.
Select a Human Subjects (IRB Course) in Question 1
Since several courses are available, be sure to select a course under Human Subjects Courses (IRB) in Question 1, not Responsible Conduct of Research/RCR which is Item #2.
Select a training course appropriate for your research activities.
This should take you back to the home screen, and you should see the course you
selected listed under University of Georgia Courses. Click on the course to begin. Follow
on-screen instructions from there.
Complete the training
Complete all the required modules and associated quizzes.  A passing score of 80% or better is needed for successful completion of the course. Important: If you do not complete all the required modules in one session, you can re-enter the course as needed to complete the training.
If you need to provide proof of completion to your instructor for credit, make sure to
use the completion certificate from within CITI, not the completion screen from the PEP
system.

See our video guidance on Kaltura and on YouTube

Which CITI modules should I take?

Researchers should select the course that is most appropriate to the type of research that will be conducted. See our video guidance on Kaltura and on YouTube. If you don’t see the course you need in PEP, look for guidance on YouTube.

The Social and Behavioral Research course (S&BR) relates to studies on sociological, psychological, anthropological, or educational investigations including observational and survey research and work with population and/or epidemiological studies. There are also specific S&BR courses if your research involves children, foreign countries (international), internet (any delivery of intervention or collection of research data/information online), pregnant women, or prisoners. The Biomedical Research course would apply for medical, physiological, or pharmacological studies. Note: if you become involved in more than one project and the population or procedures are different, you may be required to take additional courses):

*These courses contain additional modules that are also available in the Optional Modules section of any completed course. However, if you just take the module (e.g., Internet Research) through the Optional Modules section, the completion record in the IRB portal will not reflect that you have completed the Social & Behavioral Internet Research course and you will be asked to provide a screenshot of your completion (for each project submission to which it might apply.) We strongly recommend adding the course in CITI so that the completion record in the IRB portal will reflect the additional coursework.

  • Social & Behavioral Research
  • Social & Behavioral Research – Children*
  • Social & Behavioral Research – International*
  • Social & Behavioral Research – Children & International*
  • Social & Behavioral Research – Internet*
  • Social & Behavioral Research – Pregnant Women*
  • Social & Behavioral Research – Prisoners*
  • Bio-Medical Research

I have transferred to UGA but already completed CITI at my former institution. Will this be acceptable?

Yes, but your records need to be associated with UGA. To do this, you must access the Professional Education Portal (PEP).
Log in using your UGA MyID and password.
Using the search box in the top-right corner of the screen, search for “CITI” and choose a course.
Click “Launch.”  This will take you to the CITI website.
Choose the option that instructs you to link your SSO (Single Sign On) account.
Login with the credentials you used to access CITI at your former institution.
Following this action, your UGAID will be associated to your CITI account and your CITI account will be affiliated with UGA. After you have completed this process, you will be able to access the courses required by UGA IRB. Select one that matches best with the course you completed at your previous institution (by title). Start the UGA course. You may see completed modules within the course for any that you’ve already completed at your previous institution that are a match to UGA’s course content. Follow the on-screen prompts to start the course; you will be able to access any modules that need to be completed in order to satisfy UGA’s requirements.
See “Required CITI Training” and “Which CITI modules should I take?” above for additional instructions.

See our video guidance on Kaltura and on YouTube.

How do I take refresher training through CITI?

PEP does not display Refresher courses as options. Therefore, you must access CITI through a previously completed course or simply by launching any of the CITI courses listed in PEP.

1)      Go to https://pep.uga.edu

Professional Education Portal – Welcome to the new PEP

Welcome to the new PEP Log In. The Professional Education Portal (PEP) is a cutting-edge tool to support your professional development and research-related educational needs at the University of Georgia

pep.uga.edu

and log in.

2)      In the search bar on the top right of the page, enter “Social & Behavioral Research” and click the first option that appears.

3)      On the page for Social & Behavioral Research, the right side of the screen will show a red bar that says View Completion Page. Click the Down Arrow on the right side of this bar, then click Launch.

4)      This should bring you to the CITI page that says University of Georgia. Click the View Courses button.

5)      On the next screen, you should see your Refresher Course listed there. Once you complete the course, please wait 24 hours for the IRB Portal to update with your new training.

See our video guidance on Kaltura and on YouTube.

I am working with a non-UGA affiliated person. How do they take training?

This individual may take the CITI training through UGA but must have a UGA Research Affiliate account in order to access PEP.
Research Affiliate MyID accounts are sponsored by a UGA office, or by a current faculty or staff member. These sponsorships are typically created by first contacting the UGACard Office (for someone who will be granted a role by the college/department such as Clinical Preceptor), or by contacting EITS  (for someone who will only be helping a UGA faculty/student conduct research.) The principal investigator’s department or college business office can assist with this process. In some cases, the Office of Research can process the request for a Research Affiliate ID.

How do I take Good Clinical Practice Training?

If you are required by sponsor contract or federal granting agency to complete Good Clinical Practice training, also choose one of the following in Question 4 (see the NIH Policy on Good Clinical Practice Training for NIH Awardees Involved in NIH-Funded Clinical Trails or FAQs at https://osp.od.nih.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/FAQs_on_NIH_GCP_Policy.pdf ):
Refresher training is required every three years.

  • Basic GCP for Clinical Trials with Investigational Drugs and Medical Devices (U.S. FDA Focus)
  • Basic GCP for Clinical Trials with Investigational Drugs and Biologics (ICH Focus)
  • GCP – Social and Behavioral Research Best Practices for Clinical Research

How do I take Bloodborne Pathogen Training?

Bloodborne Pathogens training is required for all University System of Georgia employees and students who have the potential to be exposed to human blood or other potentially infectious material.  Completion records must be included in project records.  The training is available through the Professional Education Portal. Log in using your UGA credentials and search for UGA Right to Know: Bloodborne Pathogens Training.

Principal Investigators are responsible for compliance with the Research Occupational Health and Safety Program Policy More information about the institution’s Occupational Health and Safety Program can be found on the website.

How do I take HIPAA training?

Training for research involving access or use of protected health records or that is otherwise subject to HIPAA is included in the Biomedical Research basic course and all of the Biomedical Research Refresher Courses.

It is also available through optional modules in the Social & Behavioral Research courses. Once any of the Social & Behavioral Research courses are complete, Optional Modules can be accessed by opening the course in CITI. If you are accessing CITI through the PEP portal, find your completed CITI course and launch it. Then View your UGA courses and select Review Course by any of the completed Social and Behavioral courses. Find a HIPAA-related optional module. You are looking for Research and HIPAA Privacy Protections (ID14), Biomed Refresher 1 – Research and HIPAA Privacy Protections (ID 17261), Biomed Refresher 2 – HIPAA and Human Subjects Research (ID 526), or Biomed Refresher 3 – Research and HIPAA Privacy Protections (ID 17265). Ideally, CITI should present all of the optional modules but if it doesn’t, select ID 14 or the Refresher module in order they are presented here (1, 2, then 3).

The IRB can only determine that the HIPAA training is complete if the Biomedical Course is complete. If you take the optional module in addition to a completed Social Behavioral research course, you will need to provide a screenshot of your completion in your submission.