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Project updates – Addressing poor research practice and research misconduct

August 2024 meeting

The addressing poor research practice and research misconduct working group convened on 5 August 2024.  

  • The working group noted that a contractor has been appointed by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) on behalf of the committee to deliver Addressing Research Misconduct in the UK (PS24037). 
  • The appointed contractor will deliver three concurrent workstreams:
    • Providing evidence on the UK Higher Education research sector’s governance of research misconduct.  
    • Exploring international models for managing research misconduct in Higher Education Institutions.
    • Exploring models that include assurance and regulation in UK sectors outside of Higher Education Institutions.   
  • The working group will convene on a bi-monthly basis to inform the commission and monitor progress.   

October 2024 meeting

The Committee’s cross sector working group on ‘poor research practice and research misconduct’ met on 2 October 2024 to discuss and share feedback on the project’s:

  • methodology and approach 
  • extraction templates for workstreams one and two 
  • international comparators longlist 

Members were joined by RAND Europe project leads who presented on the ‘Research Misconduct in the UK’ project.

November 2024 meeting

During the November meeting, members worked with RAND Europe to co-develop the project’s research methodology which would be used to characterise the governance of research misconduct within the UK and provide evidence on international models for managing research misconduct to inform potential adaptation to the UK’s approach and to support international collaborations.

RAND Europe have also produced a long list of international comparators, which the group made additions to, and which will be used to identify a cohort of international models for which there will be a deeper extraction of their systems and processes.   

A policy implications workshop to explore findings and implications for the UK research system will be held in the second quarter of 2025, with the final report expected in the third quarter of 2025. It is planned that the findings and outputs from this commission will inform anticipated Committee recommendations for UK governance of research misconduct.