Beyond Bad Apples: Towards a Behavioural and Evidence-Based Approach to Promote Research Ethics and Research Integrity in Europe

The Coalition for the Advancement of Research Assessment’s Working Group on ‘Ethics and Research Integrity Policy in Responsible Research Assessment for Data and Artificial Intelligence (CoARA-ERIP)’ addresses the need for the integration of research ethics and research integrity into digital research practices and the evaluation of scientific research engaging digital transformative tools and (eventually) evaluated by AI. The primary objectives of ERIP are to develop policy, methods, and tools that contribute to ethical and responsible research assessment practices in the context of data and artificial intelligence (AI). This includes establishing principles and standards for the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, as well as for AI and its eventual use the deployment of AI algorithms in research assessment processes. ERIP focuses on three area:ERIP applies a trans-disciplinary approach across academic and other research institutions throughout Europe and globally. ERIP strives to be a platform that promotes equity in the European and global research community. It engages the full range of scientific research, including students and junior and senior researchers, across all types of research institutions and sectors.

ERIP brings European and global stakeholders together in an open dialogue among researchers, policymakers, funding agencies, and other actors to further the development and implementation of ethical research assessment policies for data and AI.

ERIP improves innovation in research evaluation policy and its implementation across universities and other research institutions regarding the engagement with data and AI methods and tools in scientific research. ERIP engages the cutting edge of transformative technologies and their impact on practices in scientific research, its contributions and communication.

The EOSC-Future/RDA Artificial Intelligence and Data Visitation Working Group (AIDV-WG) has focused on addressing ethical, legal, and social challenges of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Visitation (DV) affecting of state-of-the art data technology impacting scientific exchange in the context of data sharing and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).

Mission: The mission of the AIDV is to contribute to building the ethical, legal, social, and technical frameworks and bridges enabling the open sharing and re-use of data in the framework of Open Science.

Vision: The vision of the AIDV is to bring together expertise across disciplines and regions to ensure ameliorate the use of AI and DV in research and innovation across technologies and sectors to address the grand challenges of society.

Objectives The principal objective of AIDV is to examine the promises, challenges, and barriers to the use of AI in data sharing and Open Science having regard to scientists and research institutions as well as to policy and the interests of patients, communities, health advocates, and those stakeholders otherwise underrepresented in these important initiatives for Open Science.

Working to support the EOSC Future project and facilitate the implementation of EOSC across research communities, this AIDV examines interoperability issues arising across federated and non-federated systems. Particular attention is given to national and institutional policies (ethics/legal) and how they affect the generation of metadata and interdisciplinary work and cooperation.

The following work packages are being pursued by AIDV subteams:

·        A survey on current ethical, legal, policy, and societal frameworks for AI and DV

·        Guidance on legal considerations for AI and DV: a mapping of legal considerations for AI and DV as well as how to navigate legal frameworks for users of EOSC and other Open Science platforms.

·        Guidance for informed consent in AI and DV: The GDPR and other EU data and AI regulations as well as regulations in other jurisdictions have placed heavy emphasis on the role of informed consent in data sharing and data publication. This subteam examines the role of informed consent in AI and DV, addressing fundamental challenges to current informed consent frameworks and practices. The aim is to provide guidance for researchers and data controllers across disciplines regarding informed consent in AI and DV.

·        Guidance for ethics committees reviewing AI and DV: Ethics committees (RECs/IRBs/IECs) have been confronted by new challenges when encountering the need for advice on data management and data sharing as well as in other areas of data processing. The use of AI and DV, especially in health-related research, requires investigation regarding the ethical, legal, and social issues these raise for ethics committees and those submitting proposals for advice/approval to ethics committees. This subteam's guidance will assist ethics committees in understanding questions, methods, and procedures for reviewing AI and DV.

·        AI Bill of Rights: Underlying the growing application and use of AI and DV is a concern to ensure that data subjects are protected by these new technologies. The AIDV-WG subteam is drafting an RDA AI Bill of Rights that promotes fundamental human rights Recommendations Communique that advances trust in AI and federated systems for Open Science.

The EQIPD consortium developed a Quality System for preclinical research to boost innovation.

An Erasmus+ project with Georgian universities

An ethics governance system for the use of responsible research and innovation (RRI) in higher education, funding and research centres

EnTIRE: developing The Embassy platform for the Research integrity and ethics communities

Embedding a comprehensive ethical dimension to organoid-based research and related technologies

INTEGRITY: Empowering students for Responsible Research Conduct (RCR) through evidence-based, scaffolded learning.

A healthy research culture supports the practice of responsible science. However, the role of (research) culture is often underestimated or difficult to change. The goal of the (em)power groups to improve research culture project is to improve research culture. To this end, we are developing in two years’ time a conversation tool that allows research groups/departments to think and reflect on responsible research with the aim of raising awareness about the influence of research culture on the behavior of scientists how (young) scientists can change this culture. This conversation tool will use a novel series of videos and will be tailored to the needs within various disciplinary fields at departmental level. By actively seeking out departments needs and by offering the developed tool at department or research group meetings, we aim to reach a large group of early career scientists to empower them to speak up.

NERQ is a new initiative that results from two EU projects, namely Path2Integrity and Integrity. NERQ stands for network for education in research quality, and takes a broad perspective on research quality, namely that high standards in research integrity, research ethics, open science and responsible research & innovation meet in training and courses for students and researchers throughout various stages of their career.

The NSRI is the first ever nation-wide online survey targeting researchers of all universities and university medical centres in The Netherlands aiming to report on factors that promote or hinder Responsible Research Practices (RRPs).

The “Pro‐active Pandemic Crisis Ethics and Integrity Framework ” (PREPARED), aims to develop an operational research ethics and integrity framework which safeguards key ethical values, supports a rapid and effective research response to crises.

Researchers, policymakers, and regulators face numerous challenges when it comes to conducting responsible research and innovation across various fields. These challenges encompass ethical practices, regulatory inconsistencies and data protection legislation complexities. With this in mind, the EU-funded PRO-RES project aims to provide a comprehensive, flexible and durable guidance framework. Designed to cover a wide range of non-medical sciences, this framework will offer practical solutions complying with the highest research ethics and integrity standards. By incorporating successful examples and best practices, PRO-RES will establish strong links with existing projects, contributing to post-2020 European strategic funding policy and promoting responsible research engagements. Ultimately, this initiative will empower policymakers to make more effective use of non-medical scientific research information.

With the European research landscape rapidly changing, nowadays, it is becoming increasingly essential to emphasise the virtue of research integrity and to start handling new scientific techniques in a comprehensible way. Research integrity is a constituent of more innovation, growth and high-quality jobs. It leads to more efficient, appropriate, useful and reliable scientific evidence for policy-makers and entrepreneurs, where decisions based on research results lead to a better future.

ROSiE is a three-year project funded by HORIZON2020. Its mission is to co-create with all related stakeholders novel practical tools to foster a responsible open science and citizen science.

Open Science and Reproducibility journal, discussion and workshop club in Groningen, open to all who want to know and learn more about open science practices!

SOPs4RI (Standard Operating Procedures for Research Integrity) aims to stimulate and foster responsible research practices across European Research Performing and Funding Organisations (RPOs and RFOs) with a toolbox that includes a collection of easy-to-use Standard Operating Procedures and Guidelines that these organisations can use to develop their own Research Integrity Promotion Plans.

TIER2 (enhancing Trust, Integrity and Efficiency in Research through next-level Reproducibility) will increase reproducibility of scientific research results that will bring trust, integrity, and efficiency to the European Research Area (ERA) and the global Research and Innovation (R&I) system. The project will boost knowledge on reproducibility, create tools, engage communities, implement interventions and policy across different contexts to increase re-use and overall quality of research results. TIER2 aims to build an evidence-base on the extent and efficacy of existing reproducibility practices and co-create new tools to enhance reproducibility across diverse contexts.

TechEthos (Ethics for Technologies with High Socio-Economic Impact) is a three-year EU-funded project that project that deals with the ethics of the new and emerging technologies anticipated to have high socio-economic impact. TechEthos aims to facilitate “ethics by design”, namely, to bring ethical and societal values into the design and development of new and emerging technologies from the very beginning of the process.

The School of Medicine in Split was established as an independent faculty on 26th March 1997. It is one of the components of the University of Split.

VIRT2UE: A European Train-the-Trainer Programme for Teaching Research Integrity

This training focuses on teaching Research Integrity in applied sciences universities of The Netherlands with a simple underlying philosophy: if you want researchers to behave with integrity, you will have to teach them what to look for and how to do things.

The Equitable, Inclusive, and Human-Centered XR Project.

Ethics in research is an essential ingredient for good science. Maintaining high ethical standards is essential to winning public trust in scientific work. However, there are many challenges such as new technologies, increasing international collaboration in academic research and the absence of standardisation across Europe. The EU-funded irecs project will reinforce the reliability of science by advancing research ethics expertise and competencies. It will improve the understanding of research ethics in Europe and provide interactive, sustainable training programmes. Building on the European Network for Research Ethics and Research Integrity and the Embassy of Good Science as well as close collaboration with key stakeholder organizations, irecs will create a horizontal community unifying research ethics practitioners, policymakers and other stakeholders.

PRO-Ethics: Participatory Real Life Experiments in Research and Innovation Funding Organisations on Ethics