On-Campus and Field Research Current Status
The McCombs School of Business is following guidance by the Vice President for Research (VPR) for on-campus research that has been restricted due to COVID. The VPR’s Research Restart policy primarily applies to research which requires researchers to be onsite in a lab or field setting for human subjects and other research or access a shared use facility (e.g., secure database and computational facilities). As of July 5, 2021, UT moved to Research Level 0.
Important aspects of Research Level 0:
- For contract tracing purposes, all research must be vigilant and continue to maintain room and lab sign-in sheets, either digital or printed, of all interactions by researchers and participants.
- All human subject research participants must complete COVID pre-screening form and COVID participant consent form.
- No workforce density restrictions.
- Researchers are no longer required to submit a research restart application but must submit contract tracing logs.
- Follow university safety and mask guidelines with masks highly recommended.
- Follow campus meeting and event guidelines.
Notify the Occupational Health Program (OHP) if you or someone on your research team has symptoms of COVID-19 or is tested for COVID-19. Students who test positive should contact BCCAL or self-report (if tested off campus) to University Health Services.
General Information
Review general information on Research Restart related to Research Levels 1-5.
Overview
The VPR worked with the Associate Deans for Research to develop a multi-level phased approach to safely resume research. For a description of each Research Phase, please download the Resuming Research Operations at UT-Austin PDF from the VPR’s COVID-19 site. For additional information about restarting research, you should download the PI Research Restart Toolkit PDF on the VPR’s website.
Please download the Human Subjects Research Restart Plan. All human subjects research requires ADR approval for Research Levels 1-5.
Additional Resources
Browse additional resources from McCombs and UT Austin.
- Paid Participant Study Request
- Supplemental Research Data Assistance
- Research Resources
- Manuscript Editing Services
- Research Lunch Sessions
- Just Accepted Faculty Publications
- Faculty Research Awards
- Archive of McCombs Research Newsletters
- Faculty Research Related Policies
- Industry Research Agreements Flowchart
- MSB Gift Grant Industry Contract Approval Request
For assistance with research-related IT issues (hardware, software, cloud, services), contact IT Research Support.
On-Campus and Field Research Restart Application
Researchers who wish to restart on-campus or field research MUST complete the following form when UT is in Research Levels 1-5.
McCombs School of Business Research Restart
Overarching Goal
Required Steps for Human Participant Research when in Research Level 1-5
You must do the following in preparation to reactivate or begin face-to-face human participant interactions.
- Carefully review UT’s Human Subjects Research Restart Plan and Research FAQs at VPR Human Subjects Restart website.
- Submit a McCombs Research Restart application. All in-person human-subjects research must have ADR approval before resuming.
Each application:
- Will need to address why research cannot be conducted remotely.
- Will need to identify Benefit and Risk levels per defined categories in Human Subjects Restart Plan.
- Will need to include a Risk Mitigation Plan. Specifically, you will need to specify a plan for how you will mitigate virus transmission risk if performing face-to-face human subject research.
- Must ensure necessary PPE (Level 2 medical grade masks or greater) and social distancing for all human participant interactions.
Workforce Density/Occupancy Limits
During the Research Phases, there will be limits on the number of occupants or workforce density in research spaces. The purpose of workforce density/occupancy limits is to assure that proper social distancing is maintained within all research spaces/laboratories, and also throughout McCombs buildings.
The following criteria will be used by McCombs to prioritize projects:
- Research by assistant professors.
- Research by Ph.D. students nearing completion of a degree.
- Externally funded research that is time-sensitive (e.g., must collect post-intervention data, subsequent wave of data in longitudinal study, or COVID-19-related data collection, etc.)
- Non-funded research that is time-sensitive (e.g., must collect post-intervention data, subsequent wave of data in longitudinal study, or COVID-19-related data collection, etc.)
- Research continuation for existing projects.