May 2025

In May, the RICS group convened for their first formal meeting since the launch of the refreshed concordat in April. The group discussed the positive feedback received so far and plans to produce alternative formats of tables and infographics to enhance accessibility and their usefulness for training and planning.

Over the next year, the RICS group will refresh their governance framework, including their terms of reference, future operating model, and other processes. They will also review the annual statement template and develop plans for the next annual forum meeting. The group will reconvene in September, and another meeting summary will be shared with the community.

November 2025

At the November meeting, the Research Integrity Concordat Signatories (RICS) group focused on refining its terms of reference which were approved and are now available on the website.

As part of the review of the terms of reference, the RICS group has been considering the governance and structure of the signatories group and is exploring the best approach to activities including the annual report and the annual forum. The RICS group discussed work ongoing in the sector that intersects with its work looking at the governance framework for the Concordat.

A refresh is under way of the annual statement template for use by institutions to report on their integrity work. Initially, the subgroup leading this work is seeking feedback from those institutions that have not used the template previously. This information will be used to inform the design of the new template. The template will be launched in April 2026 to enable its use at the same time as the 2025 Concordat comes into effect.