UCD is committed to the promotion of an environment which maintains the highest standards of integrity in relation to its educational mission and research activity, in line with the 2019 National Policy Statement on Ensuring Research Integrity in Ireland and The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity (Revised Edition 2023). These national and international policies have shaped the development of our internal policies, procedures and codes in the area of the promotion of good conduct of research, including:
A key commitment of these policies is to provide training, resources and support to UCD researchers to ensure that they are aware of their obligations in respect of these policies and procedures and are able to comply with them. UCD[1] provides access to an online research integrity training package, developed by Epigeum, a branch of Sage publishing, to ensure that this training commitment is met. Completion of Research Integrity Training is now a mandatory requirement for holding a grant from many Irish research Funding Agencies.
The new (2024) edition[2] of Research Integrity Training delivers up-to-date, institution-wide integrity training to minimise the risk of research misconduct, increase confidence in published works, and support funding agency requirements in Ireland and Europe. This fully interactive version provides discipline-specific content, scenario-based activities and polls. The training is structured into eight core sections, with an additional 5 specialist sections, as follows.
Core Sections |
|---|
| Responsible Research Practice |
| Irresponsible Research Practice |
| Planning Your Research |
| Managing and Recording Your Research |
| Data Selection, Analysis and Presentation |
| Scholarly Publication |
| Professional Responsibilities |
| Communication, Social Responsibility and Impact |
Specialist Sections |
| Conflicts of Interest |
| Research Involving Human Participants |
| The Care and Use of Animals in Research |
| Intellectual Property |
| An Introduction to Export Controls |
There is a quiz at the end of each section, with an 80% pass mark. Completion of the relevant sections, along with passing all of the quizzes, generates a Research Integrity Certificate in Brightspace, which is increasingly being required by national Funding Agencies.
Experienced Researchers (usually at the Associate Professor or Professor level) can undertake Core sections 1&2, to be certified as having completed Concise Research Integrity Training.
Research Graduate Students, postgraduate, and early career researchers need to complete and pass all 8 Core sections, to receive their Comprehensive Research Integrity Certificate.
Specialist sections can be undertaken by anyone, and completion of each Specialist section, along with passing the quiz, generates its own Certificate in Brightspace.
All UCD Staff and Students can access the Research Integrity Training module by logging onto Brightspace using your UCD Connect credentials, click on "Explore" and search for the module "Research Integrity Training". Academic staff need to "View as Student" in order to access the course.
Queries on the course can be found in our FAQ's.
Research Integrity Training is a compulsory element of all Research Degree programmes for students admitted after 31 August 2019. Students admitted before this date may also take the training. Further details can be found on the Graduate Studies website. This training requirement can be met by taking either:
If you have completed a recognised Research Integrity training module (the appropriate Epigeum course), within two years before you started UCD programme, then this may be sufficient to meet your degree requirement. Please contact grb@ucd.ie with the appropriate certificate for further information.
[1] Background: The National Research Integrity Forum negotiated a pilot national subscription to the Research Integrity training package offered by Epigeum from 2018-2020, which was funded by the IUA, THEA and the Research funders (HRB, IRC, SFI, EI, DAFM and EPA). In 2021, the IUA negotiated a further three year national subscription, co-funded by the HEA and the Research Performing Organisations. In 2024, the version of RI Training was updated and a further three-year national subscription (2024-2026) was agreed, co-funded by the HEA and the Research Performing Organisations.
[2] UCD already has access to Version 1 of the Epigeum Research Integrity Course (5-hour course) via a licence in perpetuity in return for work done on the development of the course.