The University of Bristol is globally recognised for the quality of its research, as evidenced by the Research Excellence Framework 2014 which ranked Bristol among the UK’s top research universities. In order to maintain and uphold the high standards of our research, we continue to undertake initiatives to ensure that integrity, ethics and excellence are at the core of our research activities and fully embedded in our research culture.
The University of Bristol is committed to meeting the Commitments of Universities UK’s Concordat to support Research Integrity, 2019. The Commitments described in the Concordat are listed below with information in italics about those activities undertaken at the University in support of each of them:
• We are committed to upholding the highest standards of rigour and integrity in all aspects of research.
We are actively engaged in protecting the rights, dignity, health, safety and privacy of research participants, the welfare of animals and the integrity of the environment. As a centre for properly conducted, high quality research, the University is also committed to protecting the health, safety, rights and academic freedom of researchers as well as the reputation of the University.
• We are committed to ensuring that research is conducted according to appropriate ethical, legal and professional frameworks, obligations and standards.
The University’s quality assurance framework for research conduct includes: a core funded central Research Governance Team; ethics processes which are embedded within Faculties and Schools with strategic oversight from the Ethics of Research Committee which is chaired by a Pro Vice-Chancellor and is a key committee of Senate; risk management processes to ensure that researchers are guided and supported in obtaining the necessary approvals; regularly reviewed policies and guidance; training and development opportunities for staff and students; an annual audit programme; study monitoring; and senior management support.
• We are committed to supporting a research environment that is underpinned by a culture of integrity and based on good governance, best practice and support for the development of researchers.
Research Integrity is a core element of the role of the Research Governance Team and we are in the process of creating Integrity specialist roles within the team. This agenda is also supported by the Research Improvement Group, led by Professor Marcus Munafo; Academic Lead for Research Improvement.
We continuously look for opportunities to further improve all areas of research integrity; harnessing current activity and recognising that future developments for students, researchers, supervisors and research managers should be harmonised by joint working. The University offers training & development opportunities for staff and students e.g. staff development courses covering ethics and integrity delivered for CREATE and early career researchers. Programme-specific postgraduate workshops are run in close collaboration with course leaders and sessions with a focus on research ethics and integrity are delivered for school away days in addition to annual Faculty Research Ethics Committee member training.
• We are committed to using transparent, timely, robust and fair processes to deal with allegations of research misconduct when they arise.
Clear and effective policies in this area have been in place for a number of years; policies are routinely reviewed and updated to ensure that they meet all relevant requirements and are reflected in current practice.
The University investigated one allegation of potential research misconduct in each of the years 2015, 2016 and 2017.
• We are committed to working together to strengthen the integrity of research and to reviewing progress regularly and openly.
We have developed an integrated internal approach to support and nurture research integrity with input from multi-professional teams and senior management oversight that can be evidenced against UKRI expectations and the UK Research Integrity Office Self-assessment Tool.
Externally, active membership of the Russell Group Research Integrity Forum enables us to share best practice and benchmark against activity within the HEI sector.
Policies, regulations and guidance provide the framework in which we deliver our commitment to research integrity. These include:
The above are integrated into our governance and administrative processes and training programmes to ensure they are an active and recognisable part of our research culture. We will continue to strengthen this culture and would welcome any questions, suggestions or concerns about research integrity at the University of Bristol, please contact me through our Research Governance Team.
Professor PC Taylor, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Enterprise
University of Bristol, October 2020.
