What is this about? (Is About)
From The Embassy of Good Science
A short summary providing some details about the theme/resource (max. 75 words)
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The Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sports' Law on Scientific Activity and Higher Education' +
This law regulates all research-related and scientific activities in Croatia. Besides providing a detailed framework for research and teaching activities in scientific institutions, it also lays down general provisions that govern the activities of individual researchers. +
In 2013, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics embarked upon a series of engagement activities that aimed to inform and advance debate about the ethical consequences of the culture of scientific research in terms of encouraging good research practice and the production of high quality science. A wealth of information has been gathered during the project from the hundreds of scientists and others who took part. It is the people engaged in scientific research who are in the best position to tell what it is like to be a researcher, whether a post-doctoral researcher on a shortterm contract, or a well-established professor. +
This act establishes the Innovation Fund, an independent research funding body within the government, whose activities are tailored to support cutting-edge, relevant research and innovation, collaborations and public-private partnerships. It describes the composition, activities and duties of this body. +
Through this act, the Danish government establishes the Danish Council for Research and Innovation Policy and the Danish Council for Independent Research, whose main aim is to promote research, collaboration and ensure high standards in Denmark. Whereas the Danish Council for Research and Innovation Policy shall promote research of high societal relevance with practical impact, the Danish Council for Independent Research shall provide support and advice on research initiated by independent researchers. +
This act establishes the Danish National Research Foundation, the main research-promoting body in Denmark. The main aim of this foundation will be advance the state of Danish research through grants and other forms of support. The composition, funding and duties of the foundation are described in this document. +
This code of conduct of the Dublin City University (DCU) is based on the principles of the National Policy Statement on Ensuring Research Integrity in Ireland (see "related resources"), but takes a more hands-on approach to help the university staff attain the standards set by the national policy. +
Increasingly, excellence in research is dependent upon collaborations between different scientific institutions and disciplines. Moreover, collaborations between private and public organizations are also on the rise. This means that scientists form various domains are part of a large, well-connected network. While this is conducive to good science, it also means that scientists face greater conflicts of interest due to dual responsibilities or influence from peers. This document elaborates this issue, and provides advice to prevent such influence and maintain trust in science.
Note: The resource isn't currently available through the original hyperlink. Until this is solved, please find it [https://www.gezondheidsraad.nl/documenten/overige/2017/01/01/code-ter-voorkoming-van-oneigenlijke-beinvloeding-door-belangenverstrengeling here] or [https://www.zorginstituutnederland.nl/publicaties/publicatie/2016/09/15/code-ter-voorkoming-van-oneigenlijke-beinvloeding-door-belangenverstrengeling#:~:text=Zorginstituut%20Nederland%20Publicaties-,Code%20ter%20voorkoming%20van%20oneigenlijke%20be%C3%AFn here] (all in Dutch). +
This blog post is about an anthropologist who claimed to be using pseudonyms to protect his subjects but in fact, was making things up. His fraudulent research practices resulted in several retractions. +
What should be included within research reports? Reporting guidelines are consensus-based recommendations for minimum standards of reporting. They are structured and simple tools for researchers to be used during the writing process. The EQUATOR Network defines a reporting guideline as“[a] checklist, flow diagram, or structured text to guide authors in reporting a specific type of research, developed using explicit methodology.” '"`UNIQ--ref-00000005-QINU`"'
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The ETHNA System. A Guide to the Ethical Governance of RRI in Innovation and Research in Research Performing Organisations and Research Funding Organisations. +
The EU project “Ethics Governance System for RRI in Higher Education, Funding and Research Centres”, in short ETHNA System, is to implement and enforce an '''internal management and procedural system of the Responsible Research and Innovatio'''n (RRI) within 6 European '''Higher Education, Funding and Research Centres'''. This guide is the result of the work and represents deliverable 6.2: "Final version of the ETHNA System Guide". +
We rarely think about the environmental cost of streaming a movie, joining a video call, or downloading a podcast— but the digital world runs on data centers that use huge amounts of energy, water, and land. This article by the Mozilla Foundation, linked in the first slide of this course (www.mozillafoundation.org/en/blog/ai-internet-carbon-footprint/), breaks down the “invisible” footprint of digital activity.
Skip the section on AI — we’ll cover that in a separate training module. Read the rest of the article and then come back to complete the interactive exercises. +
In this activity, you’ll explore the article by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) linked in the first slide of this course (www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/ai-has-environmental-problem-heres-what-world-can-do-about) and reflect on the environmental impacts associated with AI. The article outlines concerns such as electricity use, water consumption, rare earth mining, and e-waste. It also offers possible solutions and governance ideas. After reading, complete a short interactive exercise to test your understanding. +
Our phones and devices seem small and portable — but their environmental footprint is massive. This short article by the Convention on Biological Diversity, linked below, explores how technology products affect the environment throughout their lifecycle: from the extraction of rare minerals to their disposal as e-waste.
Please read the article linked in the first slide of this course (www.cbd.int/article/greening-tech-for-people-and-planet). As you read, pay particular attention to the three stages of the smartphone lifecycle: production, use, and disposal. Then come back and complete the interactive exercises. +
This case defines the concept of epistemic integrity, which can be used to explain research integrity. The epistemic integrity of an experiment is inversely proportional to the deceptiveness of the results of the given experiment. For instance, the more deceptive the outcomes of an experiment are phrased, the lower the epistemic integrity of the practice is.
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The article describes 26-month field research in El Salvador during the civil war and analyzes ethical challenges that researchers face in conflict zones. The author discusses the research procedures he followed to implement the "do no harm" ethic when it comes to empirical research. +
The Ethics Codes Collection is a large repository of ethics codes and guidelines: it contains 2500+ codes from 1500+ organisations. It goes beyond research ethics and integrity, and includes ethics codes in business, government, non-profit organisations, and engineering organisations. It is maintained by the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (Illnois Institute of Technology). +
This case is about the publication of the analyses of the DNA from 4 men in Namibia, which occured in 2009, and the consequenses of that publication. This is a factual case.
'''Key quote:'''
"Without studies that look at each underrepresented population, genetic tests and therapies can’t be tailored to everyone. Still, (...) collecting that data could exploit the very people the programs intend to help."
'''The core ethical problems include:'''
*Respect: treating ethnicities as mere objects of scientific and/or commercial interest.
*Consent: 1) A genome belongs to a whole population, not just to an individual, so obtaining individual consent for DNA analysis may not be sufficient and 2) Collected data may be reused for purposes which were not originally consented to. +
This is a fictional case about a researcher that works for a pharmaceutical company. Instead of looking from the viewpoint of the individual, the case adopts a ‘social organization approach’: it analyses how the interactions with the company personnel may subtly lead to unethical behaviour.
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This factual case analyses a study in which public health researchers investigated a less effective but also less expensive health measure. This study raised social justice and ethical concerns. Some argued that the study promoted inequality as the research subjects were not receiving the best possible treatment, while others argued that the subjects were treated as a mere means to further scientific knowledge. Therefore, this case examines whether studying an intervention that is less effective than known measures can ever be justified.
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The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity is a framework used by the European research community as a tool to regulate all scientific and research areas and to ensure the integrity of research across Europe. The Code provides a set of fundamental principles for research integrity, a set of good research practices, and highlights the potential violations of research integrity. +
