What's New

Human Subjects in Energy Technology & Policy Research Symposium

Thanks to those who joined us for the inaugural Human Subjects in Energy Technology & Policy Symposium, which was held virtually on October 17 and 19, 2023. The symposium gathered professionals supporting, reviewing, and conducting research to develop and deploy energy technologies and policies, with the goals of increasing awareness of what constitutes HSR in this field of research, promoting best practices from the proposal stage through study completion, and fostering a culture of collaboration.

What Was Covered? The virtual two half-days event featured invited speakers discussing topics that demonstrate the critical nature of human factors for advancing energy and security goals. Topics addressed include:
  • Modification of the Human Environment
  • Better Research Through Collaboration: A Partnership Among Sponsors, IRBs, and Researchers
  • Social Science Best Practices for HSR in these Fields
  • Building a Human Subjects Protocol and Understanding the Regulations
  • Creating a Culture of Collaboration within Your HSPP

Attendees Included:

  • Sponsors/DOE Program Managers
  • Researchers from Academia and DOE/NNSA sites
  • IRB Professionals from Academia and DOE/NNSA sites

The symposium report is intended to serve as an informative resource to the community.

Upcoming Virtual Symposium on Community Engaged HSR – October 29-30, 2025

This two ½ day virtual symposium will feature invited speakers discussing topics that demonstrate the critical nature of this type of human subjects research (HSR) and considerations for sponsors, researchers and institutional review boards (IRBs) when planning for, reviewing and conducting this research.  Planned topics include:

  • Overview of Community Engagement in HSR – what it is and how to do it
  • Actionable Science: Adding HSR to ensure community voices are represented
  • Panel of Community Engaged Specialists – experts in health, tribal, occupational, and educational research
  • Building Accessible Consent Forms
  • Interactive Session – “Is this HSR?”

DOE Memorandum on Recognizing and Addressing Bias in Human Subjects Research

The intent of the memorandum is to provide context and serve as a reminder of how explicit and implicit bias can negatively impact our collective goal of protecting the rights and welfare of human subjects who participate in DOE-funded and conducted research.  We hope too, that this memorandum will help researchers and IRB members recognize and whenever possible, avoid and/or address these biases in the design, conduct, and review of research.

Informational Materials on Human Subjects Research

In the coming months we will be adding new user-friendly materials throughout the Human Subjects Protection Program website for easy access by sponsors of human subjects research, grants and contracts officials, researchers, participants, and IRBs. We will summarize updates here as they are made.

New Brochure: HRP-120-GENERAL –Brochure- Will Your Study Involve Human Subjects Research?

Updates to DOE Order 443.1C

Limited changes are being made to DOE Order 443.1C. Stay tuned for an updated version and a summary of changes which will be posted in the coming months.