Ninth Level Ireland

“For most Irish scientists, being lectured by the government’s Chief Scientific Advisor Mark Ferguson about research ethics is a decidedly uncomfortable experience. Recently Ferguson, as Director General of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), took to the pages of Nature to announce the launch of SFI’s new audit system to check that funded research is being conducted with integrity …” (more)

[Network for Irish Educational Standards, 19 June]

“Scientists in Ireland will soon have to open up their lab notebooks and explain their research processes to outside auditors, according to plans outlined by the head of the country’s basic-research funding agency …” (more)

[Richard Van Noorden, Nature News & Comment, 17 June]

“Mention the word fraud and what is the first thing you think of? Little surprise if your response was banks or bankers, although they have hardly cornered the market on use of the term …” (more)

[Dick Ahlstrom, Irish Times, 16 June]

“IUA welcome the ‘National Policy Statement on Ensuring Research Integrity in Ireland’ launched today by Minister for Research and Innovation Mr Sean Sherlock TD. The policy statement aims to commit the main organisations in Irish research to the highest standards of integrity …” (more)

[Irish Universities Association, 4 June]

“Regardless of the rhetoric about more openness in academic research, institutions appear to be failing to address some of the deeper issues. In order to stave off the steady rise of regulation and monitoring and to present a coherent alternative to instrumental views about research, it falls to researchers themselves to define the ethos of openness …” (more)

[Andrew Rawnsley, Impact of Social Sciences, 25 February]

“Tales of academics using imaginary collaborators to explain away dodgy research results and fabricating life-threatening diseases to avoid investigation formed some of the most memorable moments of the 3rd World Conference on Research Integrity, held in Montreal from 5 to 8 May …” (more)

[Elizabeth Gibney, Times Higher Education, 16 May]

“… The document created under the mantle of the Irish Universities Association forms part, regrettably, of a wider societal tendency to ‘policy up’ well understood ethical precepts. Time and money is spent on stating the very obvious at very great length …” (more)

[John McCafferty, Irish Times, 4 March]

“Research integrity relates to the performance of research to the highest standards of professionalism and rigour, and to the accuracy and integrity of the research record in publications …” (more)

[Conor O’Carroll, Irish Times, 28 February]

“A draft policy statement on research integrity has opened for public consultation, with submission sought by the beginning of March …” (more)

[Lloyd Mudiwa, Irish Medical Times, 13 February]

“Graduate schools need to do a better job teaching their students about responsible and ethical research, according to a report being released today by the Council on Graduate Schools …” (more)

[Kaustuv Basu, Inside Higher Ed, 14 August]

“The major science funders in the United Kingdom are to introduce a set of principles on research integrity as a condition for receiving their grants. Launched today, The Concordat to Support Research Integrity describes itself as an attempt to provide ‘a comprehensive national framework’ for research governance …” (more)

[Daniel Cressey, Nature News & Comment, 11 July]

“Science is based on trust, in that one assumes that researchers are in the pursuit of knowledge and truth. However, scientists do not always act to these noble standards. The term ‘research integrity’ has evolved to cover a wide range of less than acceptable practices …” (more)

[Conor O’Carroll, Irish Times, 23 September]