Access Rules and mandatory training

Access to the MRI Facility is regulated on two different access levels. The safety course for access to the MRI laboratory trains for both levels:
● Researcher Level - guaranteed access to the MRI lab, under the supervision of a member of the MRI Team, but not to the magnet room;
● MRI Team Level - autonomous access to the MRI laboratory, including to the magnet room.

For safety reasons, the facility is a controlled-access zone; researchers can only enter if accompanied by a member of the MRI Team.
In the Facility, experiments (human scans) can be carried out as long as the required healthcare staff are available (a TSRM and, if applicable, and a doctor to perform an examination) every week Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
When healthcare staff are not present, users can access the Facility to prepare experiments and to define fMRI acquisition protocols to be used (Phantom Scan), but only when accompanied by a member of the MRI Team.

Before accessing the Facility, users must complete general safety training provided online by UNITN:
- the “Health and Safety at Work Course - General” for teachers, researchers, research fellows / Health and Safety at Work Course - General for students for PhD students and master students . Provided by UNITN, the course has unlimited validity; once passed, the user must enter the result into CLARA, by uploading the course-completion certificate;

- the “Low risk” Safety Course for teachers, researchers, research fellows / Low risk for students for PhD students and master students. Provided by UNITN, certification is valid for 5 years; once passed, the user must enter the course-completion certificate into CLARA;
- “Regulation (GDPR)” Course and the specific module “Guidelines to Privacy and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - RESEARCH MODULE". The courses are provided by UNITN; once passed, the course-completion certificates of both courses must be entered into CLARA.

- the “Covid-19” Course  (not mandatory). Provided by UNITN, once passed, the result must be entered into CLARA, by uploading course-completion certificate;

Users must also complete specific training delivered by Facility staff, and in some cases, preventive medical screening.

Authorisation to access the MRI Facility
After completing general training, new users must complete the following steps:
- complete MRI Safety Training (three-year validity), with passage entered into CLARA by the MRI Facility ER;
- upload the approval by the CER UNITN of the PI’s request for inclusion of the user as a “New Project Member”. The document is entered into CLARA by the centre administration;
- reading and acceptance of the online laboratory booking procedure, self-declared by the user in CLARA.
Once these steps have been completed, CLARA allows the researcher to access the “MRI Facility Booking System” (using UNITN credentials) and, thus, to access the laboratory.
For the three-year renewal of authorisation to access the MRI Facility, the researcher must carry out MRI Safety Course Retraining, and passing it must be entered into CLARA by the ER for another three years of validity.
Regardless of training, bachelors/master’s and other undergraduate students, as well as undergraduate trainees, can access the Facility only when accompanied by the researcher carrying out the experiment.

Annual authorisation to access the MRI Lab Magnet Room
If the researcher needs special access to not only the MRI Facility but also to take volunteers into the magnet room, the following is also required:
- certificate of fitness to work in the magnet room, issued by the appointed physician for health at work; this authorisation is entered into CLARA by the ER (valid for one year).
For annual renewal of authorisation to access the magnet room, the researcher must:
- renew the certificate of fitness to work in the magnet room, again issued by the appointed physician for health at work; again entered into CLARA by the ER (valid for one year).

 

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