Research Continuity Planning Guide

Visit Graduate Student Unionization Updates for comprehensive news, resources, and guidance in the event of a strike.

A disruption to regular research activities can put research progress at risk. Furthermore, some research environments require continuous operations to ensure the integrity of experiments. Challenges to research continuity can arise from staff turnover, the temporary absence of a team member, or less common situations such as a strike or pandemic. Proper planning can help you maintain research continuity in challenging circumstances.

General Guidance

• Step 1: Review Roles in Your Group

• Step 2: Prioritize Functions

• Step 3: Reassign Responsibilities

• Step 4: Data Management and Security

Additional Information for a Graduate Worker Strike

General Guidance

Step 1: Review Roles in Your Group

Review the responsibilities of all members of your research team to identify operations and activities that would be affected if particular individuals or an entire segment of your team, such as student advisees, were to be absent.

Identify roles involving data, equipment, or other artifacts, and lab-assigned routine operational and safety-related tasks. Give special consideration to responsibilities that require certification or other protocols.

The following documents may help you complete a comprehensive review:

• Grant applications and agreements (e.g., scope of work, budget justifications)
• Position descriptions
• Standard operating procedures

Step 2: Prioritize Functions

Of the responsibilities assigned to researchers in your team, which tasks are most critical and time-sensitive? Which functions, if stopped or disrupted, would most affect the safety or viability of your research?

• Focus on responsibilities that relate to:
  • Human research participants with whom your team has ongoing responsibilities and trusted relationships
  • Animal, plant, or other biological system care, including experimental oversight and daily maintenance such as animal care routines, plant care schedules in growth chambers, and seasonal farm activities (e.g., planting, harvest, pest control)
  • Critical equipment requiring regular attention, maintenance, or certification
  • Sensitive specimens or chemicals requiring attention, including genetically modified organisms (GMOs), pathogens, or live biological agents requiring containment or reactive chemicals
  • Key data collection or data management activities
  • Fieldwork of various types, especially instances that are seasonal or time-bound using external resources and must be completed at a given time
  • Any additional tasks that cannot be paused or require regular input or attention
• Consider regular routines as well as situation-specific, non-routine tasks that could be affected if an individual or group of individuals were absent for a prolonged period, such as:
  • Mentoring of new or less experienced team members
  • Ordering, receipt, or storage of materials and supplies
  • Equipment maintenance
  • Lab-level safety and emergency response
  • Duties of a Lab Safety Coordinator that might need to be re-delegated or assumed by the PI
  • Waste removal

Step 3: Reassign Responsibilities

Reviewing the list of research tasks you identified as critical and nondeferrable (Step 2), identify alternative personnel, on your team or at Cornell, who could fill gaps during a disruption to regular operations. Consider the following questions:

• Are there individuals in your team, at Cornell, or beyond Cornell (e.g., those participating in the project collaboration) who can fill in on a temporary basis?
• Do these individuals have the knowledge, skills, and experience to carry out the task?
• Do these individuals require training and/or supervision to execute the task safely and properly?
• Have these individuals been approved on appropriate protocols (e.g., IBC, IRB, IACUC, RSC) to assume these tasks?
• Are there essential tasks that require USDA, CDC, or APHIS authorization to perform? If so, are alternate personnel credentialed or can temporary coverage be arranged?
• For human subjects research, what obligations do you have toward participants in the study? If you are unsure of your obligations, the Office of Research Integrity and Assurance (ORIA) can assist you.
• For animal or plant care, what alternative plans could ensure essential care? The Office of Research Integrity and Assurance (ORIA), Cornell Animal Research and Education (CARE), or Plant Growth Facilities (CALS), among others, have teams of experts who can serve as resources as you develop a plan.

Consider Broader Implications for Remaining Staff

• Develop and share contingency plans with your research group.

• Set up an emergency contact list for unexpected disruptions.
• If a limited number of individuals in your team or group can fulfill their duties, how can they continue to work safely in your lab or other research environment?
• If certain members of your research team must work alone in the research environment, review Cornell Environment, Health and Safety (EHS)’s working alone guidance and determine how to best apply these principles to your lab or equivalent research environment.
• If certain members of the research team or group are assigned additional tasks for a prolonged period, what changes can be made to ensure all active team members have reasonable, sustainable workloads?
• Consider issues of stress and mental health and be prepared to discuss with staff and HR.
• If necessary, consider procedures for suspending research operations and restarting at a future date. Review Cornell’s Lab Energy Shutdown Tips for further information.

Consider discussing your plans with department and field colleagues and getting feedback, particularly from those with experience in such research adaptations. You may also email the Associate Vice Provosts for Research at avp.research@cornell.edu for feedback and guidance. Staff in the Office of Research Integrity and Assurance (ORIA) can address specific questions for your planning.

Step 4: Data Management and Security

Be sure to safeguard research data and ensure data integrity. Consult Cornell Data Services for specific questions.

• Ensure all data are backed up.
• Restrict data access to authorized personnel only, and carefully consider what access is provided to alternative personnel.
• Review data management plans.
• Review and update permissions as necessary.

Additional Information for a Graduate Worker Strike

Graduate workers are first and foremost students of Cornell. Even when on strike, a graduate worker must maintain satisfactory academic progress toward their degree(s). Graduate Student Unionization Updates provides strike-specific guidance on Distinguishing Between Academic Progress and Assistantship Duties for GRAs, GAs, and RAs During a Work Stoppage.

• If a research sponsor asks about how an anticipated or ongoing strike could impact your research project, reach out to your Grant and Contract Officer or Research & Innovation.
• You cannot ask graduate workers to work additional hours beyond that which would have been expected in an average week in accordance with their assistantship appointment, but you can ask them to ensure that important tasks are complete and ongoing activities are up to date.
• In the event of a strike, you can reassign or redistribute duties that fall into the job description and expertise of others.
• Other assistants, including graduate students, can be hired on a temporary basis if qualified, whether or not they currently hold an assistantship. These appointments should be hourly, in lieu of a typical assistantship.
• Before hiring contingent staff, discuss your options with your relevant department chair, dean’s office or administrative/finance unit.
• Once a strike is resolved, research supervisors are obliged to shift duties back to assistants who participated in the strike.