Meeting the FIU Human Subjects Educational Requirements

PHRP Online IRB Training

Federal Regulations require that key personnel in studies involving human subjects undergo training to improve research subject safety. Key personnel are all individuals responsible for the design and conduct of the study. This includes the PI, Co-PI's, Supervisors and other personnel who will be interacting with the human subject or that will be handling data even if they do not interact with the human subjects. Certification of this training is required to receive IRB approval for ALL research studies whether or not they will be submitted to outside funding agencies. Currently, FIU's researchers receive their certification for the use of human subjects by using Protecting Human Research Participants (PHRP) modules offered by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). You are required to include a copy of your certificate with every initial application for use of human subjects (Form A). Only certifications for additional personnel should be submitted with modifications or annual reviews (Form B-1 or Form B-2).

How to obtain a training certificate?

Student Investigators, Faculty, Research Staff and other Key Personnel are required to complete the online course entitled "Protecting Human Research Participants" maintained at the following web page: http://phrp.nihtraining.com/users/login.php 

The Human Participant Protections Education for Research Teams tutorial presents common concepts, principles, and issues related to protection of human participants. It will help you and your team identify research activities that involve human participants, and help you understand how to protect the rights and welfare of all human participants involved in research.  

In order to gain access to the human subject training module you must:

1) Go to the following web page: http://phrp.nihtraining.com/users/login.php 

2) Click on the "register" link. Provide the information in the required fields on the registration form. Please note your username and password for your records as the IRB Office will be unable to supply this information to you at a later date.

3) There are seven (7) chapters with an exercise at the end of each.  

4) You must complete all seven chapters in order to receive a certificate.  Please print your certificate and keep copies for future submissions to the IRB. 

The IRB Office will also accept a training certificate from a comparable human subject training module if you have obtained certification at another university or college (e.g., CITI Collaborative IRB Training Initiative).

IMPORTANT!! Additional Occupational Health & Safety training may also be required for research and teaching involving human subjects. Information can be obtained by contacting the Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) Department or visiting the EH&S website.

Note: On March 1, 2008, the NIH Office of Extramural Research on-line tutorial Protecting Human Research Participants (PHRP) (http://phrp.nihtraining.com) replaced the NCI Human Participant Protections Education for Research Teams course. The NCI course is no longer available. The PHRP course updates the old course. It is an improved course that covers the same material. The PHRP course satisfies all the requirements met by the old course.

CITI Online IRB Training (Optional)

FIU also offers access to additional human subjects training modules, which are offered through the Collaborative IRB Training Initiative Program (CITI). 

Investigators have the option of completing the CITI IRB Training Course instead of taking the PHRP IRB Training Course (mentioned at the top of this page).  Please note, you are not required to complete both the CITI IRB Training and the PHRP IRB Training.  If you would like to access the CITI IRB Training Courses, then please follow the directions below:

1) Go to http://www.citiprogram.org 
2) As a "new" user, you will need to click "Register Here" to register for the training course
3) Select "Florida International University" from the Participating Institutions and click "submit"
4) Create a unique username and password and click "submit"
5) Enter your personal information (first name, last name, email) and click "submit"
6) Continue entering additional information (gender, degree, etc.) and click "submit"
6) You should now be able to access the training courses menu.
7) Please note that there are several different types of courses available on the CITI Training website, so please make sure you select one of the Human Subjects Research courses in order to satisfy the IRB training requirement.  The Human Subjects Research course options will be listed as question #2 when you reach the CITI Enrollment web page.

You will have the opportunity to print a Training Certificate upon completion of the training course and exam.

Note:  Completion of the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Training Course from the CITI website does not satisfy the FIU IRB Training requirement.  All investigators conducting research involving human subjects must complete the PHRP IRB Training or the CITI IRB Training.  The CITI RCR Training is not considered an IRB Training Course.

Additional Training Opportunities

IRB Presentations for Graduate Students: These workshops occur each semester to provide Graduate Students with a general overview of the IRB submission process. The workshops are designed to help educate students on the importance of maintaining compliance with the IRB. Time is provided at the end of the presentations for questions.  Pease review the latest training announcement for the date and location: IRB Training Announcement.

HRSA and OHRP IRB Training videos can be accessed online here

OHRP Online Training can be accessed online here

Jaeb Center for Health Research IRB Training can be accessed online here

Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) Training can be accessed online here