Annual Report on Research Integrity 2022-23

Background

The University has, as a member of Universities UK, agreed to adhere to the commitments of the Universities UK Concordat to Support Research Integrity (2019).

1. Summary of actions and activities

Summary of actions and activities that have been undertaken to support and strengthen understanding and the application of research integrity issues.

• Academic Board approval of the revision of the Research Ethics Policy
• Following the revision of the Research Ethics Policy and associated Guidance and Procedures the Research Ethics SharePoint site (*internal staff link) has been redeveloped to provide staff and students with enhanced resources to support their awareness and understanding of research ethics, for example, a ‘How to Avoid Some Common Shortcomings in Ethics Applications’ has been developed to improve the overall standard of research ethics applications and the guidance associated with capacity or capability to give consent has been enhanced to provide guidance reflecting the diversity of research at the University. This resource links with and complements College based resources, for example in the context of consent
• The Responsible Metrics Guide has been revised to support the Internal Promotions/Conferment process.
• A recommended bibliometrics list to inform research output assessment has been developed to support REF2028 preparations
• The University is now a signatory of: 
  - The Concordat to support the career development of researchers 
  - The agreement on reforming research assessment (CoARA)
• A Guide has been developed on Security Related Issues in International Research Collaboration based on information from Universities UK, the UK Government the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) and the National Security Centre. A SharePoint site (*internal staff link) has been developed to support staff awareness and understanding
• The Researcher Development Programme (*internal staff link) includes training and support for research ethics, governance and integrity

2. Research Misconduct

The University has a Research Misconduct Policy and associated procedures that provide a transparent, timely, robust and fair approach to dealing with allegations of misconduct. Training and guidance to support research misconduct was further enhanced in 2022-23 with the developments outlined in Section 1.

There have been no formal investigations of research misconduct during the academic year 2022-23.