OAVP RCWI Guidelines on Undergraduate Research, Creative Work, and Innovation Beyond Coursework

The Guidelines on Undergraduate Research, Creative Work, and Innovation Beyond Coursework are designed first and foremost to protect undergraduate students who choose to engage in research and creative work beyond their formal course requirements. These Guidelines establish clear safeguards to help ensure that participation is entirely voluntary, grounded in free and informed consent, and not linked to grades or academic pressure.

At the heart of these Guidelines is the principle that such engagement must enhance but not compromise a student’s education, enabling undergraduate research at the Ateneo to remain structured, ethical, and firmly anchored in student rights and mentorship. Research involvement should not interfere with coursework, academic performance, or a student’s mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Workload, duration, expected outputs, and compensation (if funded) must be clearly defined in advance. Students are also guaranteed proper recognition through transparent authorship practices and acknowledgment of their contributions.

These Guidelines further affirm students’ rights to ethical treatment, confidentiality, and due process, consistent with University policies on decorum, sexual misconduct, intellectual property, data privacy, and the responsible use of generative AI. Students may withdraw if participation negatively affects their studies, and faculty oversight is subject to departmental attestation and accountability.

To formalize these protections, every engagement must be documented through the required Terms of Engagement Form, signed by the student, faculty mentor, and Department Chair or Program Director. Both the Guidelines and the accompanying form are readily downloadable below.