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.
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.
Please note that during the 2025-26 school year, some sessions will be held in person, and some sessions will be held remotely, to accommodate as many participants as possible.
Schedule 2025-2026
Monday, September 15, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm.
Heights Room
Data Acquisition & Management, Copyright, and Conflict of Interest
Speakers:
Elliott Hibbler, Joanna Schoreder - BC Libraries Matt Gregas - Research Services
Erin Sibley - VPR Office
Lunch will be provided!
Tuesday, October 7, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm.
Walsh Hall Function Room
Teaching & Ethics, Community Engaged Scholarship
Speakers:
Kimblery Humphrey, Francesca Minonne - Center for Teaching Excellence
Cal Halvorsen - Washington University St. Louis
Lunch will be provided!
Thursday, October 16, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Online via Zoom
Rigor & Reproducibility
Speaker:
Tracy Costello - University of South Florida
Friday, November 7, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm.
Online via Zoom
Research Misconduct, Authorship
Speakers:
Kristin Bittinger - Harvard Medical School
Erin Sibley & Dani Melendez - VPR Office
Wednesday, January 28th, 12:00 pm.
Heights Room
Intellectual Property, Sponsored Programs, Data Use Agreements, Conflict of Interest
Presented by the VPR Staff
Monday, February 2nd, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm.
Heights Room
Ethical Considerations: Research with Justice-Involved Individuals AND
Research with Adolescents and Youth Community Centers
Speakers:
Prof. Victor Petreca, CSON
Prof. Carolina Velez-Grau, SSW
Friday, March 13th, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm.
McElroy 237
Grantwriting Seminar
**Capped at 50 participants**
Speakers:
Prof. Betty Lai (LSOEHD)
Dr. Lai's book will be distributed to participants
Monday, April 13th, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm.
Via ZOOM
Relationships with Mentors AND
Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Research
Speakers:
Dr. Tracy Costello, UCF
Dr. Nir Eisikovits, UMass Boston
FAQ
To register for an RSI event, please make sure you are logged in to your BC e-mail in the same browser you are using to register. If you are using Chrome as your browser, please make sure you are signed out of all other non-BC gmail accounts.
The RSI program must be completed within the first two years of your studies or employment at BC.
No, it does not. The components of the RSI program can be completed in any order.
Please contact Stephanie Querzoli (querzoli@bc.edu) about any dietary restrictions. Please inform her of the RSI events you plan to attend.
Please contact Erin Sibley (erin.sibley@bc.edu) for an update of your progress in the RSI program. Over the summer, we will be posting a spreadsheet so that each participant can check their progress.
Yes, these are available in the event archive.