Updates and News

NSF and NIH Proposals: Required Research Security Training for PIs: As of 10/10/2025 the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) as of 5/25/2026 will require all PIs and individuals identified senior/key personnel to CITI Research Security course in the last 12-months at the time of submission. PIs must attach valid CITI Research Security course completion certificates to the Proposal Routing Form (PRF). The PI and senior/key personnel are responsible for ensuring their certification is up-to-date and current throughout the duration of the research project. Read more about Research Security Training (includes FAQs). 

Summary of NIH Policy Updates (Summer 2025): Over the summer NIH issued many notices of policy changes relevant to upcoming submissions and funded proposals. The full list of policy changes is available on the NIH website. 

• Effective 9/25/2025 Supporting Fairness and Originality in NIH Research Applications (NOT-OD-25-132): Guidance about the appropriate usage of artificial intelligence (AI). NIH will instituting a new policy effective 9/25/2025 limiting the number of applications that NIH will consider per Principal Investigator per calendar year to six (new, renewal, resubmission or revision applications).
• Effective 10/1/2025 Requirement to Train Senior/Key Personnel on Other Support Disclosure Requirements (NOT-OD-133): All faculty and researchers identified as Senior/Key Personnel on the requirement to disclose all research activities and affiliations (active and pending) in Other Support (see Other Support form). The new requirement to train researchers to comply with other support disclosure requirements adds to the current policy (see NIH Grants Policy Statement (GPS), Section 2.5.1 "Just-in-Time Procedures") in order to provide a comprehensive plan in the area of disclosure requirements for recipients. More information about WWU's training plans will be shared soon.
• Updated Implementation Guidance of NIH Policy on Foreign Subawards for Active Projects (NOT-OD-25-130): NIH will not issue awards to domestic or foreign entities (new, renewal, or non-competing continuation) that include a subaward to a foreign entity.
• WWU Research Compliance staff will continue to monitor NIH notices, and we will update researchers if there are Research Security Training updates for NIH projects.
  • 9/11/2025 notice "Implementation of NIH Research Security Policies" (NOT-OD-25-154) was rescinded on 9/29/2025 with "Update: Recission Notice re: Implementation of NIH Research Security Policies" (NOT-OD-25-161). 

Responsible Conduct of Research Training Required for Federal Research Grants: WWU and certain Federal agencies require individuals engaged in federally funded research projects to complete formal Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training. WWU primarily fulfills this obligation through the CITI Program which provides nationally recognized, peer-reviewed, online regulatory content for researchers. 

Updated Email Address: To better align with the mission of the Research Integrity and Compliance area and this updated website that we launched last fall, we have a new email alias researchintegrity@wwu.edu. All emails sent to compliance@wwu.edu and researchintegrity@wwu.edu go to the same inbox. We do not anticipate disruption to the work of our office or our responses to researchers. Thank you in advance for your patience as we update webpages and other materials.

Educational Outreach

We offer a variety of educational outreach opportunities* for campus faculty, staff, and students. Contact us to talk about what options are available.

• Please contact us at least 30 days in advance of desired date.
• For sessions involving individual consultations, timeframe will depend on group size.
• Brief, informal online appointments or phone inquiries have more flexibility in booking.

*Example: Research Ethics Overview (45-60 minutes)-Overview of general research integrity and ethics issues with the goal of understanding the foundation of research ethics and how these principles apply in practice. Topics covered include: study team roles, data lifecycle and data management, peer review, conflict of interest, etc. 

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