Introduction
The University of Edinburgh is committed to ensuring a culture of best practice in research conduct. Edinburgh was an early signatory to the UK Research Integrity Office’s Code of Practice for Research which underpins the Universities UK Concordat for Research Integrity. The University expects that all research staff at Edinburgh comply with the principles and policies of the UKRIO's Code of Practice and to operate in accordance with the UUK Concordat to support Research Integrity.
Rigour, respect and responsibility are much-prized cornerstones of our research here at Edinburgh. All staff are expected to comply with the Universities UK Concordat to support research integrity. The concordat's commitments are:
- maintaining the highest standards of rigour and integrity in all aspects of research
- ensuring that research is conducted according to appropriate ethical, legal and professional frameworks, obligations and standards
- supporting a research environment that is underpinned by a culture of integrity and based on good governance, best practice and support for the development of researchers
- using transparent, robust and fair processes to deal with allegations of research misconduct should they arise
- working together to strengthen the integrity of research and to reviewing progress regularly and openly
Universities UK Concordat to support research integrity
Being able to show we have a culture of good research practice is essential for securing grants and philanthropic funding, and attracting world-class collaborators, staff and students.
The UUK Concordat is underpinned by the two key documents:
Research Councils UK Policy and Guidelines on Governance of Good Research Conduct
UK Research Integrity Office’s Code of Practice for Research
How the University is implementing the UUK concordat to support Research Integrity
Edinburgh was one of the first UK universities to adopt the UKRIO's Code of Practice for research which supports the UUK concordat.
The University's named contact for those wishing to raise confidential issues about research integrity is Professor Jonathan Seckl (Vice-Principal Planning, Resources and Research policy). This arrangement is being reviewed as a part of the process updating the University's Research misconduct policy.
The 2014/15 Research ethics and integrity report outlines how the governance structures at University, College and School level ensure oversight of the ethics and integrity policies as well operational practices for embedding the UUK concordat across the University. It was approved by a committee of University Court.
This document will be supplemented annually with a short report describing steps being taken to strengthen our commitment to research integrity and review operational practice. Every five years the full report describing the three levels of ethics and integrity governance will be fully updated. All reports will be published after approval through University committee structure.
The University Research Ethics and Integrity report for 16/17 session will be uploaded when it has been approved through the University committee structure.