Modules

Supervisors’ research ethics and integrity leadership training

Instructions for:ParticipantTrainer

Related Initiative

BEYOND

Goal

This resource helps supervisors to foster a strong culture of research integrity.

By the end of this activity participants will:

understand what are the elements contributing to a culture of integrity in research communities

be aware of both the implicit and explicit ways in which supervisors and mentors influence the learning processes of their supervisees/mentees and others working in the research community
understand the role of and possess a command of practices that supervisors and mentors employ in establishing a culture of integrity
develop and display competencies in ethical decision-making
adopt the role of REI leader and display REI leadership competencies.

Duration (hours)

0.5

For whom is this important?

Deans and rectorsDepartment headsProgramme leadersSupervisorsTeam leaders

Steps

1Start by familiarizing yourself with the material

2Introduce the training goals to participants, use the slides and/or posters

3Invite participants to engage in conversations with each other

4Reflect on the training as a group and individually

What is this about?

This resource helps supervisors to foster a strong culture of research integrity. Participants learn how their everyday actions both visible and subtle shape ethical behaviour, explore practical strategies for guiding responsible research, and strengthen their ethical decision-making competence. By the end, they are prepared to lead by example and confidently support integrity throughout their research communities. Supervisors are invited to elevate their impact as the pillars of research integrity, and to apply practical practices that build trust and transparency. With the training they can enhance ethical decision-making with proven frameworks and step confidently into the role of REI leader: by creating psychological safety, setting clear expectations, inspiring accountability, and shaping a culture that drives excellent, responsible research across teams.

1

Start by familiarizing yourself with the material

This training consists of group discussion of ethics cases and aims at developing REI leadership competencies. The training utilises the conversation format described in the posters and includes 6 steps.

These can be used to structure group conversations among colleagues, team-members, etc.). The posters can be either presented in printed form or on a slide-deck.

Decide if you want to use the physical posters or only slides, print the posters if necessary. You may also choose and change the cases.

Please have a look at the slides below.

REI leadership training SLIDES

2

Introduce the training goals to participants, use the slides and/or posters

The activity supports development of supervisors’ REI competencies. The learning outcomes are:

understand what are the elements contributing to a culture of integrity in research communities
become aware of both the implicit and explicit ways in which supervisors and mentors influence the learning processes of their supervisees/mentees and others working in the research community
understand the role of and possess a command of practices that supervisors and mentors employ in establishing a culture of integrity
develop and display competencies in ethical decision-making
adopt the role of REI leader and display REI leadership competencies.

3

Invite participants to engage in conversations with each other

Look at slide 8-12 (in step 3) and ask participants to go over the REI leadership principles and take a role of a REI leader.

After having explained what the activity is about you may ask the participants to turn to the posters and work independently. Or you can go over the case analysis as a group following tasks on the slides (both slides and posters include same tasks). The tasks involve: Read the case. The case has a mentor-mentee situation and a dilemma for the leader/supervisor to deal with.

Identify the ethical principles that may be at stake in this case.
Use the ethical analysis to solve the situation described in the case.
Analyse which ethical approaches the possible courses of action follow.
Reflect back at the REI leadership framework – the group should discuss which REI leadership principles would contribute to solving this case and reflect if they displayed any of the principes.

4

Reflect on the training as a group and individually

In addition to the facilitator feedback after the group-work (whatever form the facilitator decides to use) learner’s self-reflection form (SRF) can be used: click on the link to make a copy of the form for the training (collects also the user feedback on the material). You should modify the form as appropriate (e.g. who collects the answers, as you duplicate the form, the responses will be saved on your cloud and you will be the owner of the answers), but you should keep the statements and order of questions the same – otherwise participants will not receive automated feedback.

Remarks

This material has been created as part of the BEYOND BAD APPLES project funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under GA No 101094714 (University of Oslo).

Authors: Erika Löfström, Anu Tammeleht

Other information