UCD is committed to the promotion of an environment which maintains the highest standards of integrity in relation to its research activity, in line with the 2019 National (opens in a new window)Policy Statement on Ensuring Research Integrity in Ireland. (opens in a new window)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 and support to UCD researchers, to ensure the highest standards of Research Integrity. The goal of the training is to teach researchers how to adhere to research integrity practices and avoid involvement in research misconduct, by providing knowledge of the principles of good research practice and how to foster them in their research work. The aim is to prevent as much as possible questionable practices and research misconduct within the research environment.
UCD[1] provides access to an online research integrity training course, developed by Epigeum, part of Sage Publishing. The fully interactive course provides discipline-specific content, scenario-based activities and polls. Completion of Research Integrity Training is now a mandatory requirement for holding a grant from many Irish research Funding Agencies. Access to Research Integrity Training is via Brightspace. Full details of the course, including how to access it and FAQ's can be found here
The Research Integrity Office also hosts additional webinars and events, to raise awareness of Research Integrity.
[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. This contract was extended for a further three years (2024-2026), also co-funded by the HEA and the Research Performing Organisations.