The project dwells on developing open innovative educational resources for proper addressing academic integrity issues in research, business, and society among master and doctoral students, and their supervisors, as well as checklists and guidelines, to ensure academic integrity in practice. Considering that people committing research malpractices are the graduates of higher education institutions (HEI) where they usually start exploring and investigating, the primary effort at academic (research) integrity should be directed towards early career researchers in academic environments, such as graduate and Ph.D. students that are the main target group of the project. By targeting these groups we aim to create a bridge between academic integrity, research integrity, integrity in business, and society in order to reach a broader understanding and transparency of integrity between these fields, as well as interrelated skills and qualifications needed to act in accordance with academic integrity values. To increase motivation, we propose to engage students in real-life situations through innovative open educational resources taking a form of gamified learning materials. Thus, the objectives of the project are as following: working out the checklists and the guidelines for bridging academic integrity in research, business, and society; developing educational materials including innovative gamified cases based on the checklists and the guidelines representing real-life situations; developing open educational resources in the form of innovative customized modules based on gamified cases that can be adapted to different disciplines or subject areas, and can be the means of linking Academic Integrity in research, business, and society. Most of the project partners are in close cooperation in the field of Academic Integrity. There are 6 partners in the project consortium, 4 of which represent universities. Since Academic Integrity is an interdisciplinary topic, universities participate in the project with different faculties and departments (economic, social, IT, etc.), and there are also one public research institution and one governmental institution responsible for academic ethics and procedures. There are five expected outputs as the project results (O1 – O5). O1 is based on the analyses of good practices in partner countries and provides reports on the ways AI in research, business, and society is interrelated on a theoretical level. O2 includes the development of checklists and open educational materials including gamified cases to bridge academic and research integrity for the main target groups. O3 includes the development of guidelines and open educational materials including gamified cases aimed at bridging academic integrity, research integrity, and integrity in business. O4 includes the development of guidelines and open educational materials including gamified cases bridging Academic Integrity and Citizen Science. O5 is aimed at developing open educational resources in the form of flexible game-based modules based on gamified cases developed within O2-O4, as well as at evaluating open educational resources. The reports within O1 will be developed using desk research analysis of the connection between academic, research integrity, integrity in business and society reflected in national public statistics documents, study reports, analyses, and publications. To develop gamified cases within O2-O4 partners will collect data, real-life cases, and examples related to academic, research integrity, integrity in business and society, and transform this material into a set of real case-based open educational resources using micro-games, quiz games, collaborative and role-playing games, virtual or augmented reality-based activities, etc. O4 will be carried out using Citizen Science as an open innovation method referring to the involvement of scientist-supervised citizens in each or certain stages of research. The proper implementation of innovative open educational resources will provide an opportunity to improve the quality of research in HEIs and achieve the project objectives. The project outcomes arise from the development of such open educational resources applicable across Europe. These resources will continue to be available after the end of the project and may become a reference point for all subsequent attempts in the field from the point of their innovation and suitability for future accreditation and recognition throughout the EU. An important factor of sustainability is the free access and open license of the intellectual outputs produced by the project. We are able to spread the project outcomes to other European countries and even beyond EU borders through dissemination activities, which contribute to informing targeted audiences about the necessity and development of ethical behavior in research, business, and society. International networks like ENAI will be actively used for dissemination.
The aim of the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership project “Bridging Integrity in Higher Education, Business and Society”, is to create a bridge between the academic sphere, business, and society in order to reach a broader understanding of interrelated aspects of integrity between these fields. By targeting master and doctoral students, and their supervisors, the project aims to create a connection between academic integrity, research integrity, integrity in business, and integrity in citizen science in order to increase transparency and understanding of integrity between these fields. The objectives of the project include the development of checklists and guidelines, the development of educational materials including innovative gamified cases based on the checklists and the guidelines representing real-life situations, and open educational resources in the form of innovative customized modules based on gamified cases that can be adapted to different disciplines or subject areas to ensure integrity in practice.
Within higher education, applied ethics and integrity are taught in several fields such as academic integrity, research integrity, business ethics, and citizen science ethics. Although these disciplines are commonly treated as separate and unconnected educational entities, such an approach can result in educational gaps and overlook the potential transferable ethical skills between these fields. This is especially relevant for master and doctoral students who might not receive sufficient ethical guidance as ethical training in academic integrity mainly focuses on first-year students, while research ethics courses might not be accessible to these student groups while training in business ethics and citizen science ethics is only given within narrow disciplines. In order to make the transition between different fields where integrity issues are discussed easier for master and doctoral students and their supervisors, the BRIDGE project developed a range of educational material (games, modules, workshops, and webinars), guidelines, and checklists.