Description
Addiction Research Ethics Seminar Series
All program trainees participate in the annual T32 Program Addiction Research Ethics seminar and contribute to its design and content via pre-seminar needs assessment responses. This innovative, survey-driven and trainee-tailored, faculty-facilitated discussion format seeks to better ground the trainees in research ethics and promote the priority and ubiquity of applying research ethical considerations in their everyday approach to scientific investigation. Quantitative and qualitative data supports these outcomes. The training program adopted a revolving training faculty leader and postdoctoral co-leader model to effectively sustain the series. A list of topics covered in the series is shown below:
| Session | Topic |
| 1 | Introduction to Research Ethics |
| 2 | Informed Consent, Comprehension, and Literacy |
| 3 | Ethics of Participant Selection: A Critical Evaluation of the Role of Exclusion/Inclusion Criteria and Research with Vulnerable Populations. |
| 4 | Special Topics in Research Privacy: Considerations Related to Online Research, Dissemination, and Data De-Identification |
| 5 | Ethics Data Analysis and Dissemination: Navigating Systems of Reward and Punishment in Academia |
| 6 | Research Accessibility: Scientists’ Obligations to the Public |
| 7 | Special Considerations in Research with People Who Use Drugs |
| 8 | Research with Vulnerable Populations: Inclusion – “Do No Harm” in Methodology |
| 9 | Research with Vulnerable Populations: Exclusion – Missing from Research |
| 10 | Community Engaged Research |
| 11 | Seminar Wrap-Up and Feedback |
5-Image Connectivity Presentation Series
The 5-Image Connectivity Presentation Series is a monthly series in which trainees deliver an hour-long presentation of their work using only 5 slides, challenging them to rethink the most critical aspects of their research and discuss key aspects of their research without overreliance on slideshows. This series also promotes interaction, familiarity, and connectivity across all levels of trainees. The series also fosters awareness, integration, cross-disciplinary research collaboration, and faculty engagement.
Program Annual Retreat
Our retreat is a closed event at which trainees present their research training project to each other, program faculty, and an invited external advisor for 20 minutes followed by a 10-minute question and answer period.
The UAMS NIDA T32 training program deviates from the conventional use of an External Advisory Committee to accomplish the critical function of external review. Rather, we accomplish these roles by engaging a different expert in addiction science and research mentoring for each annual retreat. The external advisor is asked to write a written report summarizing their impressions of the program.
The external adviser is also asked to present to the program on the topic of addiction career development, with time set aside for informal networking between the trainees and the external adviser.
This day-long event broadens within-program awareness, camaraderie, and collaborations.