Afternoon all,
Something which may be of interest –
As many of you will be aware, the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee has recently conducted an inquiry into Research Integrity. As part of this Inquiry, the committee also collected responses from all HEI’s regarding their engagement with the Concordat to Support Research Integrity, something which you may have contributed to in your individual roles.
Today, the final report has been published and can be accessed online:
https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/science-and-technology-committee/news-parliament-2017/research-integrity-report-publication-17-19/
Commentary by the Inquiry Chair, Norman Lamb MP, has also been published in the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/jul/11/we-need-more-investigations-into-research-misconduct
A summary of the key recommendations to Government include:
• A tightened Concordat on Research Integrity should be produced, with a timetabled roadmap to 100% compliance.
• The Government should establish a national Research Integrity Committee to provide a means of verifying that university investigations into research misconduct are handled appropriately. The primary responsibility for investigating misconduct should remain with the employer, but the new committee would improve confidence in the existing system of self-regulation and would be alert to the potential conflict of interest of universities ‘self-policing’ research misconduct.
• The new committee should publish an annual report on the state of research integrity in the UK.
I’m sure this is something that we will hear more on in the coming months. But in the meantime, I have created this post for any further discussions, thoughts or observations from SIG members!
Best wishes,
Mitch
