The Committee is composed of the following members who have to be approved by the Research Council:

1. The Chair is nominated by a majority of Committee members;
2. One representative from the School of Medicine;
3. Three representatives from the School of Sciences and Humanities;
4. Two representatives from the School of Engineering and Digital Sciences;
5. One representative from the School of Mining and Geosciences;
6. One representative from National Laboratory Astana;
7. One representative of the Faculty Senate appointed following the internal procedures of the Senate;
8. One Health and Safety Department representative;
9. One Core Facilities representative;
10. One CF “UMC” representative;
11. An independent expert, who should not be an employee or relative of an employee of the University or its organizations, nor does he or she have a professional relationship with the University or its organizations.

The Committee reserves the right to propose additional members to the Committee on the recommendation of the Chair to share the workload associated with membership.

Members of the Committee are appointed for a three-year term, after which they can be reassigned for a similar period.
The Chair and members of the Committee have the right to voluntarily step down from membership in the Committee with a notification to the Chair and the Secretary of the Committee one month before the planned withdrawal.

The current NU BCSC Roster, approved by the Research Council on April 1, 2025, can be found here.

3.1 Training for Biological Safety

NU requires its Biological and Chemical Safety Committee members, principal investigators, and all participating staff to complete the Collaborative Institutional Training Institute (CITI) training program for biosafety/biosecurity.
Access the CITI training and click on “New Users Register Here”; this will take you to the Course Registration page. Select “Nazarbayev University” from the dropdown list of Participating Institutions. Enter your name and NU-issued email address. For best results, use your NU email address as the “Preferred Email”.
Once you have provided the registration information, you will be led through a series of screening questions to determine which training modules are appropriate for your research program. In our case, it is Question 8 “Biosafety/Biosecurity”. The minimum required courses are “Introduction to Biosafety” and “Basic Biosafety Training” (and retraining). Check these courses and enter “Not at this time” for all other questions.

NOTE: If you have recently completed CITI training at another institution, you can add NU as a participating institution to transfer your training credit. Follow the instructions on the CITI site for adding NU and change your Username and Preferred Email.

NOTE: For non-NU project collaborators who do not have an NU email account, there are a couple of alternative options available to comply with biosafety training requirements:

● Biosafety training by affiliation with Nazarbayev University:
○ Non-NU collaborators should register on the CITI platform using their personal or alternative email addresses.
○ When prompted to Select Your Organization Affiliation, enter Nazarbayev University.
○ Check I AGREE with the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy for accessing CITI Program materials and I affirm that I am an affiliate of Nazarbayev University, and finally Create a CITI Program Account.
○ The last step of the registration will ask for the NU email address. You can enter your personal or other alternative email address in the *Institutional email address window even though the system recommends providing an email address issued by Nazarbayev University or an approved affiliate, and press Continue.
○ On the next page, you will be able to Select Curriculum. Go to Question 8 and check “Introduction to Biosafety” or “Basic Biosafety Training”. For the remaining questions, select either Not at this time, thank you or whichever courses interest you, then Submit.
○ The next page will display Courses Ready to Begin. Press Start Now for either course you have chosen.
○ Once completed, take the Quiz. If a passing result is achieved, the CITI platform will provide you with a certificate of completion.

● CITI biosafety training by affiliation with another university if that university has access to the CITI platform.

3.2 Training for Chemical Safety
NU requires its Biological and Chemical Safety Committee members, principal investigators, and all participating staff to complete the Collaborative Institutional Training Institute (CITI) training program for Lab Chemical Safety. Please refer to the instructions above to register and access the course, which will be available as Question 13 in a Curriculum Builder.

List of documents for BIOLOGICAL safety application:

1. Biological Safety Application form
2. Due Diligence form
3. Certificate for CITI course for Biosafety/Biosecurity
4. Signed Declaration form in order to prove that your project does not involve the use and disposal of any kind of materials/processes considered a real Chemical hazard
5. Your school Dean's approval (please forward Dean's email approval to bcscsubmission@nu.edu.kz)


List of documents for CHEMICAL safety application:

1. Chemical Safety Application form
2. Due Diligence form
3. Certificate for CITI course for Lab Chemical Safety
4. Signed declaration form in order to prove that your project does not involve the use and disposal of any kind of materials/processes considered a real Biological hazard
5. Your school Dean's approval (please forward Dean's email approval to bcscsubmission@nu.edu.kz)

Please use this chemical classification for the Сhemical Safety Application form. If both Biological and Chemical Safety Applications are being submitted, there is NO NEED for the Declaration form.

Send ALL required documents to bcscsubmission@nu.edu.kz for your application to be accepted for review. Incomplete submissions will be returned to the sender.