Cases of research misconduct are frequently discussed in leading scientific journals and have gained substantial public interest as even highly regarded scientists have been involved in such misconducts recently. Such misconduct is not only diminishing scientific integrity but also public acceptance of science. The use of codes of conduct can help as guidelines to inform students and researchers about appropriate research practices, especially with respect to unacceptable practices such as data fabrication and plagiarism. The aim of these codes is to make sure that scientists know what is allowed and what is not. But a code of conduct without a clear implementation will not change the behavior of scientists. Moreover, implementing rules and regulations is not always the best way to incentivize good behavior. The development and implementation of an educational pathway for students on all levels of studies (Ba, Ma, PhD) is necessary to become aware of what good conduct in research means by learning how to recognize problematic situations, how to discuss them with their colleagues, and how to devise strategies for dealing with them. In order to have impact, a large number of students needs to be included in Research Integrity training and the introduction of blended education offers the possibility to scale-up teaching efforts. The INTEGRITY project enhances the translation and implementation of codes of conduct into curriculum and policy of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). This project addresses urgent need in Europe to enhance integrity in Higher Education. The first objective of the project is to encourage students to act with integrity during their education and conduct research in an integer way upon completion of their education. This objective will be reached by the development and implementation of a blended, educational pathway for Research Integrity. The second objective is to increase the level of digital teaching skills of staff and use of digital tools for integrity teaching. This objective will be reached by the development and implementation of an online course for teaching staff in which they learn how to teach and moderate online education in an effective way. The third objective is to facilitate the translation of the existing codes of conduct into the curriculum and policy of Higher Education Institutions. This objective will be reached by the development and implementation of activation plans which ensure that the codes of conduct are implemented in the HEIs. The project partners are spread over Europe in different geographical areas and are an excellent representation of the academic stakeholders in Europe. Together with the active participation of a specialist in online education and a specialist in communication on research integrity, the partners in the consortium are well equipped to effectively address the three objectives of the INTEGRITY project and to achieve the long-term goals of the project: enhancing integrity in Higher Education through better translation of codes of conduct into curriculum and policy of HEIs.
Research misconduct compromises scientific integrity and diminishes public trust in science. Universities worldwide are increasingly aware of the need for safeguarding responsible conduct in research, as appears from the fact that many universities have endorsed a code of conduct, such as the European ALLEA Code. Codes of conduct are helpful to inform students and researchers about responsible research practices, but without an implementation strategy, they are unlikely to change behaviour. Moreover, incentivising proper behaviour takes more than issuing rules and regulations. What is also needed, is an educational pathway for students on all levels of studies (Ba, Ma, PhD), to raise awareness of what codes of conduct and integrity in research entail. We have taken a positive approach towards responsible conduct in research, focusing on doing things right and on empowering students to act proactively and responsibly. They should learn to recognize problematic situations, discuss them with peers and supervisors, and devise strategies for dealing with them. Utrecht University, Charles University Prague, and Ljubljana University participated as representatives of academic stakeholders in different geographical areas in Europe, Elevate Health as a specialist in online education design, and Academic Integrity Consulting as a specialist in communication on research integrity. The project aimed: 1. to develop an educational pathway for students on all levels of study, to raise their awareness of what a code of conduct and responsible conduct of research entail, and to empower them to deal effectively with integrity issues.To this end, several SPOCs (small private online courses with moderation) and a MOOC (massive online open course) for students at the Ba, Ma, and PhD levels were created. A baseline tool for measuring the level of knowledge with respect to research integrity has been developed, as well as a competency profile for research integrity. The competency profile was used by the INTEGRITY team as the conceptual starting point for the development of the project’s courses. 2. to instruct teachers how to teach and moderate the courses. A teacher-training course for teaching responsible conduct of research has been created, tailored to online training. Elevate Health offers an online training course for moderating SPOCS. 3. to implement the courses in the curriculum of the partners, and possibly on a wider scale.The courses have been implemented by the partners, and the MOOC has been published online. All courses are available on the Lifelong Learning Platform of Utrecht University. - Ljubljana University developed a competency profile for teaching and learning research integrity. It was published as a handbook presenting the key competencies that students from Ba to Ma to PhD level need to acquire to act with integrity. The handbook is freely available. - Ljubljana University developed a BA SPOC on academic writing. It was run three times and is intended to be implemented as an elective course at LU. The Utrecht Humanities Faculty is considering its implementation as an elective. - Charles University created a questionnaire to measure basic knowledge regarding research integrity on all three levels of study. This output will be implemented into special soft skill seminars for new students at CU. - A Master-level SPOC on research integrity was developed by Charles University. It was run three times and its contents are available to any faculty for inclusion into their curricula. - The PhD SPOC will be included into several study programs at Charles University. The MOOC was presented to the Rector Council, Academic Senate and faculties of CU and will be available for teaching research integrity at CU. - At Utrecht University, a four-year educational pathway for all PhD students was created, with a SPOC as the first stage of this pathway. The SPOC was piloted and run three times. A programme for stages 2-4 of the pathway was developed in collaboration with the H2020 project ‘Integrity, Empowering Good Practice in Science’. The four-year pathway has been endorsed by the Board of Utrecht University. It will be taught, on a mandatory basis, to all 2400 PhD students. - A MOOC was developed and made available online for students worldwide. - The international peer-reviewed educational journal CEPS will publish a special issue on the results of the INTEGRITY project in 2023. For the CfP, see https://www.cepsj.si/index.php/cepsj/announcement/view/14 All courses developed within the INTEGRITY project are available for students or can be incorporated into existing courses. Whilst students or faculty members are looking for solutions for their individual needs, there are also department or university objectives that need a more impactful approach. To this end we have developed an Integrity toolkit which will help student outreach, from learning tools to university-wide events promoting integrity.