Sign up for this year's Clinical Research Staff Quarterly Trainings today!

Join Tufts CTSI throughout the year for our Clinical Research Staff (CRS) quarterly trainings! The Clinical Research Staff Quarterly Training Program is a series of one-hour live events focused on enabling clinical research coordinators and other clinical research staff to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently. Each training focuses on a new topic identified as an area of interest by Tufts Medicine CRS.

You can enroll for each training individually, though we strongly recommend signing up for all four at once to get them on your calendar early!

Training Topics

The list below will be updated throughout the year as topics and titles are finalized.

Q1: Boosting Recruitment and Enrollment, February 20th, 4:00-5:00pm ET

 

Q2: Beyond the Tasks: Building Skills to Advance Your Research Career, May 15th, 4:00-5:00pm ET

Part 1: Foundations for Success

You’ve learned how to manage a regulatory binder and recruit participants—but what about navigating a tough conversation with a PI? Or collaborating with a team that communicates differently than you do? Join Tufts CTSI online via Zoom on Thursday, May 15th to build essential professional skills that go beyond day-to-day research tasks—skills you can carry throughout your career. This session will be the first of a two-part training, where we’ll cover how to recognize your communication and conflict styles, hold effective (even difficult) conversations, and adapt to different communication styles—skills that make your day-to-day work smoother and set you up for long-term career growth.

This session will cover core skills through a lecture-style presentation and completion of brief online pre-work self-assessments. In our Q3 session (see below) you will build on this knowledge with hands-on practice applying the techniques through in-person role play exercises.

Q3: Beyond the Tasks: Building Skills to Advance Your Research Career, September 18th, 4:00-5:00pm ET

Part 2: Applying your Knowledge

Join Tufts CTSI Thursday, September 18, 2025 for an in-person session to put your skills into action through hands-on activities and real-world scenarios designed to help you confidently apply what you learned in Part 1. This training builds on the content presented in the May 2025 lecture training on communication and conflict styles, holding difficult conversations, and adapting your communication approach. You will work through role play and case study activities to practice these concepts and techniques, therefore we strongly recommend viewing/reviewing the lecture recording from the Q2 session before attending this hands-on training.

As an active learning experience involving hands-on practice, all attendees will be expected to participate fully in all activities.

Goals

• By the end of this session, you will be able to:
• Identify examples of communication styles in clinical research scenarios.
• Diagnose communication issues in clinical research scenarios and brainstorm potential solutions.
• Employ the Difficult Conversations framework for effective conflict communication.

All PIs and research staff at Tufts Medicine and Tufts University are invited to attend.

Q4: Starting the New Year Right: Tools for Maintaining Audit Readiness, December 4th, 4:00-5:00pm ET

More information coming soon!

Registration for each training will close one hour prior to its start time.

Who Should Attend?

All clinical research staff are invited to attend. Please note that not all topics will apply to non-Tufts Medicine clinical research staff.