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Stanford
Office of Research Administration

NSF Training Requirement for Faculty and Researchers

Effective December 2, 2025 (originally October 10, 2025), principal investigators and individuals identified as senior/key personnel in NSF proposals must complete Research Security Training ("RST") consistent with Section 10634 of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 (“CHIPS Act”) within 12 months prior to proposal submission.

Details of the requirement can be viewed in Important Notice No. 149: Updates to NSF Research Security Policies

As part of a proposal, senior/key personnel will be required to certify that Research Security Training has been completed within the required time frame.  The Stanford Institutional Official submitting the proposal must certify that completion of the training by the required individuals has been verified.

Implementation:

Stanford’s Research Security Training (DOR-2000) meets the federal training requirement and is available in STARS.  The course takes less than an hour to complete.  A link to the course is also available on ORA’s Research Security Training site. 

NOTE: The previously available Stanford Research Security Training (DOR-1210) in STARS was retired effective 9/12/25.  If you have completed DOR-1210, that training completion remains valid.

Applicability:

Completed training is effective for all proposals submitted within 12 months of the training completion date.  For example, training completed on 10/15/25 is good for proposals submitted through 10/14/26. 

Once the course is taken by a researcher, that researcher is considered RST-compliant for 12 months following training completion date across all proposals submitted to US federal agencies that have implemented the RST requirement under the CHIPS Act.

Verification of Compliance:

For proposals submitted on or after December 2, 2025 (originally October 10, 2025):

  • NSF collects individual senior/key persons' certifications at the time of the application submission through each uploaded senior/key persons' NSF Biosketch and Current and Pending Support generated from SciENcv that includes the following certification language:
    • Research Security Training Requirement for Federal Award Personnel: In accordance with Section 10634 of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 (42 U.S.C. § 19234), each individual identified as a senior/key person must certify that they have completed the requisite research security training that meets the requirements specified in Item 2 of Important Notice No. 149 within 12 months prior to proposal submission.
  • Training completion for the full Research Security Training (DOR-2000) or Research  Security Training (DOR-1210, retired) will be captured in STARS.
  • The SeRA system displays each listed Stanford senior key person's Research Security Training status and completion date from STARS within the SeRA Proposal Development & Routing Form (PDRF), specifically the Project Questions page within the Training section.
    • Institutional Officials (OSR Contract and Grant Officers and SoM RMG Research Process Managers) will verify as part of NSF proposal reviews that all Stanford senior key persons listed within NSF applications have completed Research Security Training within 12 months from the training data listed in SeRA and certify to this institutionally at the time of application submission.

Need further assistance? Have questions and/or feedback? Please submit questions and/or feedback and a member of the ORA-RMG Disclosures Team will respond to you shortly.