As I announced in the newsletter last year, the new The Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS 2) was launched in January 2022 and researchers need to update their previous certificate in order to conduct research in any Canadian institution. The Research Ethics Board (REB) at DC had applied a grace period to allow researchers time to update their certificates, but as of this past September 1st, 2022, anyone involved in conducting research (including student research assistants) must submit a copy of their new certificate to the REB.
Are there any advantages to completing the certificate if I don’t plan to do any research?
Great question and thanks for asking! Absolutely! First, many of the principles outlined in the TCPS2 apply to every day life (justice, equity, etc), and so learning more about them has real-life relevance outside of academia and research. Another advantage is that, the more you know, the less scary new things are. So, learning the content of the TCPS2 and research ethics might make research a little less intimidating and bring you one step closer to conducting your own project. And as academics, we’re all life-long learners, so this can be one notch in your academic belt, and/or a tool you can use to integrate more knowledge into your teaching and everyday life. Also, if you did decide to do research in the future, the certificate would already be done and you’d be ready to proceed with your project 😊
How do I earn this amazing certificate?
The website is https://tcps2core.ca/. New researchers must create an account, but if you had previously completed the TCPS2 core certificate, you can log in with your previous credentials and simply complete the new modules. If you have any issues, please contact me. The modules take approximately 4 hours to complete, but can be completed in any order and your progress is saved, so you can pick away at it when you have time. Each module has 4-5 quiz questions and the final knowledge check at the end has 25 questions (randomly pulled from a large question bank). You need a score of 80% or higher on the final exercise to earn your certificate. The names of the 9 modules are listed below:
Module A1 – Introduction
Module A2 – Scope of TCPS 2
Module A3 – Risks and Benefits
Module A4 – Consent
Module A5 – Fairness and Equity
Module A6 – Privacy and Confidentiality
Module A7 – Conflicts of Interest
Module A8 – Research Ethics Board Review
Module A9 – Research Involving Indigenous Peoples
Knowledge Consolidation Exercise
I hope you’ll consider completing the new TCPS2 core certificate. If there is anything I can do to support your research or if you have suggestions for me in my role as Research Coordinator, please reach out via email.
