Effective May 1, 2025, all principal investigators and key/senior personnel submitting new proposals to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) are required to complete research security training within one year prior to proposal submission or within 30 days of being newly added to an award. All covered individuals, as defined by DOE below, must complete this training.
DOE Covered Individual Definition
Covered Individual means an individual who (a) contributes in a substantive, meaningful way to the development or execution of the scope of work of a project proposed for funding by DOE, and (b) is designated as a covered individual by DOE.
DOE designates as covered individuals any principal investigator (PI); project director (PD); co-principal investigator (Co-PI); co-project director (Co-PD); project manager; and any individual regardless of title that is functionally performing as a PI, PD, Co-PI, Co-PD, or project manager.
DOE departmental elements will often expand this list of designated roles, as specified in the applicable Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) and/or terms and conditions of the Federal financial assistance award. Status as a consultant, graduate (master’s or PhD) student, or postdoctoral associate does not automatically disqualify a person from being designated as a “covered individual” if they meet the definition in (a) above. See DOE FAL Research Security Training Requirements for all R&D.
UI Research Security Training Requirement
UI researchers can fulfill the mandatory requirement by completing the CITI Research Security Training (Combined) Program, a condensed and combined single-module course based on the NSF’s Research Security Training, prior to proposal submission to DOE. Individuals will certify in the Current and Pending (Other) Support document that they have completed training.
We expect other federal agencies will require this Research Security Training in the future. We highly recommend all covered individuals complete this training series in CITI as soon as possible.
Questions
Questions may be directed to the UI Office of Research Integrity and Security.
