Research Ethics and Integrity
Establishment of the Research Ethics and Integrity Office
This year saw the establishment of the University’s Research Ethics and Integrity function as an outcome of the organisational design process with a remit to support researchers to follow best practice in ethics and integrity, and streamline and simplify the processes whenever possible.
The ethics self-assessment process is an example of this streamlining - launched at the start of September it provides an immediate screening of research and facilitates project start for projects which do not raised ethical issues. It has been well used by researchers, with more than 90 submissions received to date. If you have not seen it, you can find it here. A number of updates to the system have been made in response to researcher comments, and we are always willing to hear more feedback at researchethics@tudublin.ie.
The University policies for Research Ethics and Research Integrity have been revised and have been moving through the University approval mechanisms, with formal approval anticipated very soon. These policies will create a unitary approach for ethics and integrity, supporting researchers and innovators across the University. This is an
As part of this policy revision there will be a new Research Ethics Committee structure set up in the new year – a University-wide committee with a primary oversight role and a number of focused sub-committees with a primary role to review submissions from University researches. While a call has already been issued for the University committee, a further call for expressions of interest will be issued for members of reviewing committees in the new year. I encourage you to lend your expertise to this important role within the University – the more diverse voices we have on these committees the better!
A number of researcher guides for different research and innovation activities are nearing completion and will be launched in the new year. These will support researchers to understand the expectations of the University in relation to the ethical perspective of different forms of research and innovation, helping both the design and execution of different data collection activities. Please check the Research Ethics microsite for updates.