Governors State University is committed to addressing harassment and fostering a safe and healthy work environment. Policies and expectations for proper conduct apply to all staff, faculty, and students whether on-campus or working, doing research, or engaging in scholarly activities or studies at off-site locations.
NSF Requirement on Safe and Inclusive Work Environments
It is the National Science Foundation (NSF) policy to foster safe and harassment-free environments wherever science is conducted. NSF requires all proposals submitted or due on or after January 30, 2023, involving off-site research or training to have a plan ensuring a safe and inclusive work environment.
The plan must describe how the following types of behavior will be addressed:
1. Abuse of any person, including, but not limited to, harassment, stalking, bullying, or hazing of any kind, whether the behavior is carried out verbally, physically, electronically, or in written form;
2. Conduct that is unwelcome, offensive, indecent, obscene, or disorderly.
The plan must also:
3. Identify steps the proposing principal investigator(s)/project team will take to nurture an inclusive off-campus/off-site work environment;
4. Consider how communications within the team and to the organization will be handled, minimizing singular points within the communications pathway (e.g., a single person overseeing access to a single satellite phone);
5. Address how any special circumstances such as the involvement of multiple organizations or the presence of third parties in the working environment should be taken into account;
6. Account for the process or method for making incident reports as well as how any reports received will be resolved.
OSPR Plan Template
To assist investigators in meeting the NSF requirement, OSPR has developed a template for a plan to ensure that PIs promote a safe and inclusive work environment for off-campus/off-site research. Project teams intending
to submit a proposal to NSF that includes off-campus/off-site research must prepare the plan using the OSPR template.