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Principal Investigator Eligibility & Responsibilities

Revised Human Subjects Regulations (Common Rule) Wednesday, June 20th 2018

The regulations that human subjects researchers must adhere to (referred to as the Common Rule Regulations) were established in 1991. In 2011, federal agencies began the long-awaited process to revise these regulations and, on January 18, 2017, the final revisions to the Common Rule (Final Rule) were posted in the federal register. The effective and implementation dates have recently changed. As posted in the federal register on June 18, 2018, the revised final Common Rule is both effective and to be implemented on January 21, 2019 with the option of implementing 3 burden-reducing provisions before January 21, 2019. Learn more about the regulations.

Principal Investigator (PI) Definition

Conducting research with humans is a privilege and carries with it ethical and legal responsibilities. By Colorado State University (CSU) policy and federal regulations, the Principal Investigator (PI) is the individual responsible for writing an accurate proposal to utilize human subjects, and for designing practices and implementing the approved use(s) of those subjects. Ultimately, the PI assumes the responsibility for the ethical conduct of the project and for the welfare of the human subjects. The PI should understand and abide by all relevant federal regulations and guidelines for the use of humans in research.

CSU Personnel PI Eligibility

CSU employees in the following Academic Faculty & Administrative Professional Manual appointment categories have the privilege of serving as a PI on an Institutional Review Board (IRB) protocol, if they have completed the appropriate training and experience to adequately direct the project. The IRB will consider a special request for someone out of these categories to be a PI.

  • Regular Full-time
  • Regular Part-time
  • Multi-year Research
  • Senior Teaching
  • Special Appointment
  • Transitional Appointment
  • Administrative Professionals
  • State Classified

Individuals on Temporary Appointments (e.g. Graduate Research Assistants and Postdoctoral Scholars) are not eligible to serve as PI, but can be a Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) with someone from one of the above categories as PI. Individuals on Visiting scholar or Adjunct appointments are not eligible to serve as PI due to the temporary nature of their affiliation with the university.

If you have a unique status that is not listed above, please contact an IRB Coordinator for assistance.