“The UK Committee on Research Integrity’s October 2022 meeting was hosted by the University of Glasgow at the University’s Mazumdar-Shaw Advanced Research Centre. An informative presentation from UK Reproducibility Network (UKRN) was followed by a productive and highly engaging workshop in planning future stakeholder engagement events. Separate agenda items focused the committee’s collective attention on the communication and reporting of activities, including the committee website and forthcoming Annual Report.
Nandini Das, UK Committee on Research Integrity member
A second day of stakeholder discussions generously hosted by the Royal Society of Edinburgh followed. It enabled the committee to have a wider-ranging conversation with key representatives within the Scottish research landscape, establishing a robust basis for subsequent collaboration. Overall, it seems evident that the committee has cohered as an efficient and collegial group, with a clear mapping of expertise and interests to drive forward the committee’s future work.”
Consultation
In November and December, the committee will seek the views of the sector on their draft 2022-2025 strategic plan. The committee works on behalf of the UK research system, which includes higher education institutions; research institutes; public, private, and third sector organisations and so it is essential their views are heard.
There are two ways to get involved in this discussion, which will inform the committee’s next steps in this work:
- Email secretariat@ukcori.org with your name, role and organisation to register your interest in taking part in a consultation workshop. Please note that spaces are limited and we are seeking to ensure there is disciplinary balance in the consultation groups.
- Provide a written response. Once live, this can be accessed on the UKRI engagement hub. Further details will be circulated in due course.
Recruitment
In November the committee will be launching recruitment for up to three new committee members. As with the first round of recruitment, this will be an open process and we would appreciate your support in sharing this opportunity so that we can reach a diverse pool of applicants.
To enhance existing skills on the committee, we are looking for individuals with experience in specific areas; academic publishing, industry research, communications & engagement, and legal.
We are very grateful to Suzanne Farley for her work on the committee and we are sorry she had to step down due to other commitments. We welcome applications from individuals with suitable experience including those who were unsuccessful in the first recruitment round. Further details will be circulated when recruitment is live.
Natural History Museum
As part of the committee’s work to learn from practice across the research system, members recently visited the Natural History Museum. Committee members discussed the Museum’s world leading research with members of their team. The focus on research integrity included discussion of open access, digitisation, collaboration, and narrative CVs. The committee is always looking for further opportunities to engage with all parts of the research system.
Indicators of Research Integrity
In the first quarter of 2022 GuildHE, Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) commissioned a project led by Research Consulting to explore potential indicators of research integrity. The project established the existence of general agreement that indicators may be useful, provided that they are created for specific purposes and are formative rather than performative.
In September the committee and project sponsors published a joint response. The response reflects on Research Consulting’s work, sets out five working principles for development of indicators of research integrity and identifies five questions for further discussion. Using the principles and prompts we invite the sector to reflect on how we might take forward this work together. The project materials can be accessed here.
The committee will continue discussions about indicators of integrity during workshops in early 2023. We are grateful to Manchester Metropolitan University for offering to host one of these workshops. If you would like to be considered as a potential host venue, please email secretariat@ukcori.org.
Case studies
The committee has launched a procurement to produce a set of research integrity case studies. This is being done through Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) and suppliers can register to become part of this framework at any time, for more details please see How to sell through CCS. It is likely that the committee will be looking to procure further work in the future so those potentially interested in applying are encouraged to register.
The case studies will showcase the diversity of perspectives on, and approaches to, research integrity across a range of settings. If you are aware of anyone or any stories that could be featured in these case studies, please email secretariat@ukcori.org.