Research Administration Policies and Guidance

Northwestern University policy mandates prior IRB approval for all Northwestern human subjects research activities, regardless of funding and regardless of where the research is conducted. Student research involving human subjects is subject to the same requirement.

The IRB approval process can be initiated by following instructions available at the IRB website.

Once IRB approval is obtained, investigators planning to recruit and/or pay research subjects should review both of the below approved processes to determine which method best fits their research design.  Please consult the Human Subject Payments Policy for University requirements and practices.

• Human Subject Payment Policy
• SESP Cash Advance and Stored Value Card (SVC) Instructions and Procedures
• Research Participant Cash Compensation Form*
• Research Participation Compensation Log*

* Use either the Research Participation Compensation form or log depending on number of participants

All postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and undergraduate students funded by the National Science Foundation are required to receive training in the responsible conduct of research (RCR). The following document details SESP's training policy:

• SESP training policy

After reading the policy and the instructions therein, navigate to the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative Online Training website (CITI) to complete the required online training component.

Computers/laptops and other electronic devices must be budgeted and justified as having direct benefit to the scientific objectives of a project in order to be an eligible grant expense. Please see SESP research support staff when planning computer and other equipment purchases. Northwestern's policy on the purchase of personal computers and electronic devices on sponsored projects can be found at the OSR website.

View the policy on the Office of the Provost website.