Researcher Integrity

This workshop will help participants understand Research Integrity and most importantly how to integrate good practices into their daily research activities.
Research integrity relates to the performance of research to the highest standards of professionalism and rigor, and to the accuracy and trustworthiness of the research record in dissemination through publications and other means.
The content of the workshop will be based on the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity.

The core aspects of Research Integrity are:
• Reliability through a commitment to ensuring the highest standards of integrity in all aspects of research, founded on basic principles of good research practice to be observed by all researchers, research organizations, and research funders.
• Honesty in developing, undertaking, reviewing, reporting, and communicating research in a transparent, fair, full, and unbiased way.
• Respect for colleagues, research participants, and subjects, be they human or animal, society, ecosystems, cultural heritage, and the environment.
• Accountability for the research from idea to publication, for its management and organization, for training, supervision, and mentoring, and for its wider impacts.

Ensuring Research Integrity can be challenging for PhD candidates as they may not always recognize issues that could lead to breaches of Research Integrity. The workshop will also treat scientific misconduct (fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism) along with other dubious research practices that include the selective reporting of data and improper citation practice. The workshop will be interactive and participants will be provided with examples and dilemmas in advance to discuss.

To whom is the course addressed?
This workshop is targeted at PhD candidates (R1) and postdoctoral researchers (R2) across all disciplines. Could also be of interest to more senior researchers.
The workshop will be a combination of presentation and interaction with participants. As the area covered is quite extensive, participants may submit questions in advance to ensure a greater focus.
I would welcome any dilemmas that researchers have faced that they think are related to research integrity.

Learning goals

Participants will learn:
• How to become aware of integrity issues that are relevant in research practices, learn to analyze these issues, and be empowered to proactively address them.
• Understanding what practices can give rise to scientific misconduct (fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism)
• Importance of Research Integrity in the career of a researcher
• Evolution of EU research policy and Research Integrity and its integration into the European Researchers Charter


Instructor bio
Dr. Conor O’Carroll is a physicist by training with a B.Sc., M.Sc. in Mathematical Physics, and PhD in Physics from University College Dublin. He has been internationally mobile having done his doctoral research in Italy and worked for both academia and industry in Ireland, Scotland, and Germany. He has extensive experience of policy and strategy formulation having worked in the European Commission’s DG Research and with the Irish science and policy advisory agency Forfás and funding agency Science Foundation Ireland. Now as an independent consultant on Research and Higher Education policy and funding, he focuses on researchers’ career development with special attention to career assessment and doctoral education. He has led European policy initiatives on Open Science and doctoral training (Innovative Doctoral Training Principles). He is an active researcher on national and European Science, R&D, Higher Education, and Researcher Mobility policy and is an accomplished commentator on R&D and higher education policy and funding. He worked on the development of the Irish national policy for Research Integrity. Currently working on a revision of the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for their Recruitment.