Welcome to our first newsletter of the year. This newsletter brings together key updates in the committee’s governance, ongoing programme of work and engagements, including a new report on UK Institutional guidance on GenAI in Research.
The committee is grateful to colleagues across the research system who generously share their time, insights, and challenge our thinking. Your contributions are vital to shaping our work. If you’re interested in getting involved with the committee’s work, please contact us at secretariat@ukcori.org.
UK Committee on Research Integrity Governance
Following the completion of Dame Jil Matheson’s six-month term as interim co-chair, we are pleased to announce that Professor Miles Padgett has stepped into the role, joining Professor Rachael Gooberman-Hill as co-chair of the committee.
Work continues across the committee’s workstreams on research misconduct, AI, and hosting the Concordat on research integrity. The committee is also progressing work to support the development of a national architecture and roadmap for research integrity in the UK. You can read more about the committee’s ongoing programme of work in the reflections from the January 2026 meeting below.
Following the committee’s extension to April 2027, the committee’s Terms of Reference has been updated to reflect the revised remit and timeline. The updated document is now available on our website for reference.
Analysis of UK Institutional Guidance for Artificial Intelligence use in Research
The committee is pleased to share that the report on UK Institutional guidance on GenAI in Research and executive summary is live on our website: Analysis of UK institutional policy and guidance on AI in research.
In 2025, the committee’s AI working group commissioned an analysis of a sample of available guidance on GenAI in research. The analysis found significant variation in readiness to support AI use in research, instead there was a focus on seeking to manage potential risks.
In November 2025, the working group held a focused online workshop to gather senior multidisciplinary professionals’ feedback on the project’s gaps and strengths. The session also identified opportunities for further development and explored next steps and dissemination strategies to maximise impact across organisations and sectors.
The AI working group also continues to engage with key stakeholders and will be using the analysis, alongside the rest of its evidence gathering, to inform a set of recommendations. You can read more about our work on AI here: Artificial Intelligence and research integrity: enabling trust and innovation.
Analysis of Higher Educational Institutions, Government departments and Independent Research Organisations Annual Statements 2025
In July 2025, we published an Analysis of Annual Statements by Research Consulting, a report jointly commissioned by the committee and the Research Integrity Concordat Signatories (RICS) Group.
The report highlighted that the share of HEI annual statements available to analyse over time is broadly consistent, with 78% found for 2022/23 and 75% for 2023/24. Further analysis by the committee has identified that the number of published statements for 2023/24 has risen to 90%.
The European Network of Research Integrity Offices (ENRIO) 2025 Congress in Ljubljana, Slovenia
Recent international discussions, including at the ENRIO Congress in Slovenia, highlight the growing focus on how institutions shape open, safe, and inclusive research environments. At the ENRIO Congress, debates centred on power dynamics, fairness, equity, and diversity in research, reflecting a shared global view that culture and structures are key to trustworthy research. These perspectives provide helpful context for the committee’s ongoing work to support and further strengthen research integrity practices, and to stay aligned with evolving expectations around research culture and institutional accountability.
You can read more about the congress here ENRIO 2025: September 22nd – 24th, 2024:: University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Attendance at European Molecular Biology Conference
In November 2025, Dr Jane Alfred presented the work of the UK Committee on Research Integrity to delegates attending the European Molecular Biology Conference (EMBC), outlining how the UK is strengthening national approaches to research integrity. Speaking alongside Dr Sabine Chai of the Austrian Agency for Research Integrity (OeAWI), she highlighted practical developments in evidence‑gathering on assurance processes, handling of research misconduct, and the refreshed UK Concordat. Their subsequent discussion with European delegates offered valuable insight into the pressures and expectations shaping research environments across Europe, helping to situate the committee’s work within the wider international landscape of emerging research‑integrity challenges.
Falling Walls Science Summit
In November 2025, the Falling Walls Science Summit brought together global leaders to explore the question, “What are the next walls to fall in science and society?”, including a dedicated session on Science Integrity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence where Professor Gooberman Hill represented the committee. The discussion examined how AI is reshaping the creation, review, and publication of research, highlighting both opportunities and risks, and emphasising the need to safeguard transparency, reproducibility, and credibility as automated tools become more embedded in research processes. Insights from this session reflect wider international debates on trustworthy research and align closely with emerging questions about responsible practice, governance, and the integrity challenges posed by new technologies.
The AI session begins at 7:50, which you can view here.
UK Committee on Research Integrity: Reflections, January 2026 meeting
The UK Committee on Research Integrity’s January 2025 meeting was held at Caxton House, London in the offices of UK Research and Innovation. It was a hybrid meeting, with most of the members physically present.
The agenda was ambitious, covering the full range of the committee’s activities. In particular, the work of the recently established working groups – Models for managing Research Integrity, the Value of Research Integrity, Agents of change, Gap analysis, and Generative AI in Research Integrity – was presented and discussed in detail, with clear plans for further work agreed. The committee recognised the huge contributions made by the committee’s secretariat in supporting these concurrent activities.
A significant conversation on the Research Misconduct workstream acknowledged the delivery and substantial reports that are being finalised giving insights to how research misconduct is managed in UK HEIs, and through international models. Committee members are undertaking a full review of the reports to distil key learning, whilst preparation for publication is under way.
An excellent start has been made in building a timeline map for the legacy and sustainability of the work of the UK Committee on Research Integrity. This shows the way our specialist sub-group remits and deliverables are linked, and how their missions and outputs will converge by the end of the committee’s programme. The committee is very aware that certain aspects of Research integrity are dynamic (e.g., use of AI), and will need some form of long-term oversight that includes longitudinal studies. The Higher Education sector’s annual reporting of research misconduct is an important example of this. Ongoing monitoring will be essential to provide evidence for, and to inform, any leadership and governance mechanisms that might ultimately arise.
The committee has demonstrated the ability to collaborate, not only within its membership and sub-groups, but also with external stakeholders, including higher education, government, national academies and groups focused on research quality. The UK Committee on Research Integrity has achieved a high level of maturity characterised by a clear understanding of its purpose supported by great team working in the committee, the secretariat and sub-groups. We have moved from addressing a serial, general agenda to multiple parallel ones, and highly valuable expertise has been developed in these.
Jeremy Watson CBE, UK Committee on Research Integrity Member