Due to COVID-19 quarantine, all in-person study activities with human subjects are suspended. Following guidance from New York State and Teachers College, the Institutional Review Board will announce when in-person research can resume and what steps to take at that time.
Even though in-person human subject enrollment is currently suspended, we encourage researchers to prepare study materials, get trained, and submit an IRB protocol for review in preparation for the launch of a phase that permits in-person research.
The goal of the Research Compliance & Safety Committee is to harness content-specific expertise and establish an inter-departmental plan for in-person research ramp-up at Teachers College (TC) with sequential phases that permit occupancy and activities to be scaled depending on the scenario, personnel, and study site.
Each phase will be adaptable as appropriate for the circumstances pertaining to specific research groups and risk levels. The Research Compliance & Safety Committee will work closely with research labs, centers, and clinics to assess risk, support ramp-up activities (and possibly ramp-down plans), and provide timely and consistent communication.
As the Teachers College Research Compliance & Safety Committee, we:
Due to COVID-19, all research-related activities taking place on campus in-person at Teachers College are suspended.
Minimizing the density of personnel on campus is crucial for everyone’s safety. We encourage researchers to conduct research activities online into the foreseeable future.
Researchers are advised not to return to research activities on campus unless it is absolutely necessary for their work. The Research Compliance & Safety Committee members are aware that some research studies cannot sustain long-term suspensions on in-person data collection. We also understand that researchers are under tight time constraints and are expected to complete multiple demanding tasks. With these considerations in mind, we are balancing plans, training modules, and requirements for a safe return to campus with reasonable time-based expectations.