Good Clinical Practice (GCP) training is mandatory in Switzerland, based on the specific role a researcher has in a clinical study, such as Investigator, Sponsor, or Sponsor-Investigator.

Regardless of the role in a clinical trial, it is recommended all study team members involved in a clinical trial or research project undergo at least the basic GCP Investigator training.

DCR provides swissethics-recognized GCP curriculum tailored to the different roles in clinical research, such as Basic and Advanced GCP Training, as well as the GCP Refresher courses. 

Clinical Investigators I: basic GCP & clinical research training

Course objectives

This course is aimed at providing prospective clinical investigators with the essential knowledge of Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and of other regulatory and ethical requirements, and the skills for contributing to clinical trials.

Course content

This is a two-day course split in two parts. The first part consists of self-learning and home-based exercises.
Participants have two weeks to complete the tasks. The second part consists of a series of interactive lectures supplemented with workshops taught in one day.


The topics covered include:

  • Ethical and legal principles
  • Swiss regulations for research involving humans (HRA, ClinO, HRO and OrgO)
  • GCP guidelines
  • Basics of clinical research and study designs
  • Basics of data management in clinical research
  • Patient information and consent
  • Study conduct & quality assurance
  • Safety

Target audience

The course is designed to approach a broad audience from those who have little experience in clinical trials to those who wish to widen their knowledge of the conduct of such trials.


Attendance would be primarily appropriate for:
Principal Investigators (mandatory), physicians, investigators, study nurses/coordinators recruiting patients into clinical trials, informing or treating patients, conducting follow-ups (as required by ethics committees and regulatory authorities).
Others such as members of ethics committees, biostatisticians interested in clinical research are also welcome.

Legal requirements

Swissethics has recognized that this training course fulfills the published requirements for Investigator Level courses. Participants finishing this training program fulfil the requirements of Art. 10 HRA and Art.6 ClinO.

Certificate and credit points

Certificate will be issued at the end of the course. The attendance is acknowledged with: 

  • 8 credits of the SIWF/ISFM, Schweizerisches Institut für ärztliche Weiter- und Fortbildung, «SIWF-approved»
  • 8 credits of the SGKPT, Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Klinische Pharmakologie und Toxikologie
  • 8 credits of the SGPM, Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Pharmazeutische Medizin

In addition 1 European Credits Transfer System (ECTS) credit will be granted to participants successfully completing a written examination at the end of the training course.

Additional information

If you have further questions or require additional information please send us an email to: education.dcr@unibe.ch.

Clinical Investigators II: Advanced GCP & clinical research training

GCP Refresher

Good Clinical Trial I test