Community Engaged Research

The default is to hire someone as an employee and certain caveats must be met for the position to be considered an independent contractor. Use this Job Aid to help decide whether your external partner is considered an employee or an independent contractor, and consult with both HR and Finance before a decision is made.

Completed example forms for a consultant role:

1. SOW

2. PSIS

If an external partner (not faculty, staff, or student) needs direct access to UMN systems like REDCap, HST computers, or libraries, they may be eligible for "Person of Interest" (POI) status through the Office of Human Resources. There is a financial cost to setting up a POI account. For an overview of POI accounts, click here.

UMN employees cannot receive a stipend for serving on a CAB if that service is part of their regular job duties or conducted during work hours.

Regular work hours: If a staff participates during their regular work hours, they generally cannot receive extra pay (stipends or honoraria). They are already being paid by the University, and "double-dipping" is not allowed.

Outside work hours: If the meetings are in the evening or on the weekends, staff may be eligible for "overload pay" but it must be approved by HR. 

Will there be members who are younger than 18 on your CAB? If so, there are some specific rules to follow! 

Requirements and forms for the Safety of Minors can be found here.

Paying CAB members can sometimes get tricky! See the different payment scenarios to help guide your decisions based on status of CAB member and funding type. 

If you're planning on paying more than $3000 to an external vendor, we must set up a Purchase Order in the U's finance system. Depending on what is being paid for, this will either take the form of a blanket order for goods or standard services, or a contract order for professional services (see above). 

For one-time invoices totaling less than $3000, we can likely pay off of a Non-PO Accounts Payable voucher payment. 

In any case, please contact your administrative support well in advance of any planned payment! 

Not every community partner needs full IRB training. It depends on their level of engagement.  Providing feedback on the design of a project or feedback on interview/survey questions does not constitute engagement in human subjects research. If the individual is not engaged in human research activities, they do not need to be added as personnel.

Non-University of Minnesota personnel participating in UMN research can complete CITI training at no cost. To register for CITI training, please follow these steps:

• Visit the CITI Website: Go to the CITI Program site and click “Register.”

• Affiliate with UMN: Type "University of Minnesota" in the “Select Your Organization Affiliation” search field.

• Provide Personal Information: Complete steps 2–6 as prompted. For any required fields that do not apply to you (e.g., employee number), simply enter "N/A."

• Select Your Courses: In step 7, choose the training that is required for your role or most relevant to your research activities.

• Finalize: Click “Submit” to complete your registration.

You might be able to add your community partner to the IRB using the Investigator Authorization Agreement (IIA). It ensures that external researchers collaborating with the UMN meet specific criteria for oversight and compliance. The IRB uses worksheet 832 to make the determination.

Criteria for an IIA 

• Research Scope: The study must meet the definition of human research.

• Affiliation: The individual must have no affiliation with UMN or its affiliates (Gillette, MHealth Fairview).

• Institutional Status: The individual cannot be affiliated with an institution that possesses its own IRB.

• Conflict of Interest: The individual must not have any conflicts of interest related to the specific study.

• Engagement: The individual must be involved in study activities such as administering interventions, obtaining consent, or accessing identifiable data.

• Oversight and Documentation: The UMN Principal Investigator (PI) must attest to providing oversight and submit a completed "External Study Personnel" form (HRP-216).

• Training: The individual must complete required IRB training as per standard operating procedures.

Once the requirements are satisfied, the type of agreement executed depends on the funding source:

• Federally Funded Research: Staff must use the HRP-855 template.

• Non-Federally Funded Research: Staff must use the HRP-856 External Collaborator Agreement template.  

Are you working with an external service provider for a project-related purpose? For instance, you might work with and plan to pay a community member for being an advisor on your study; this is considered consulting services. If you are hiring an external service provider or community consultant, the work likely falls under the UMN policy for contracting professional services. 

• Quick Contracts: If the provider accepts UMN’s standard terms without changes, you can proceed quickly via a "Quick Contract."

• Legal Review: If the provider requires their own terms or requests edits/redlines to UMN’s language, the Office of General Counsel (OGC) must review and approve the agreement.

• Authorized Signatures: Only officially authorized individuals may sign for the University; employees are not permitted to sign on behalf of their departments.

Note: The legal review process can take 2–3 months. Please contact your administrative associate early to begin the appropriate steps!