2020-05-15

The academic community delved into research integrity

On the 13^th-14^thof May, the Office organised remote training on research ethics. The first training on peculiarities of ethical scientific supervision was intended for doctoral students’ supervisors. The training emphasized that the ethical dilemmas arising during doctoral supervision must be solved together with the heads of the department and the institution. It was noted that in such situations, both the doctoral student and the supervisor must look for solutions in their institution. It was also advised how to improve doctoral supervision and solve its ethical dilemmas. The results of the national survey “Self-reported research misconduct” conducted in Austria in 2013 were presented to the participants, as well as the criteria of authorship were explained in detail.

The second training was intended for members of academic ethics committees. The participants of this training were introduced to the experience of the Austrian Agency for Research Integrity and other countries in dealing with breaches of research ethics. It was pointed out that the provisions regulating research ethics must be easily and publicly accessible, presented not only in the native language, and regularly reviewed. Moreover, the necessity to manage conflicts of interests of the members of academic ethics committees was also emphasized.

The trainings were led by lecturers from the Austrian Agency for Research Integrity, head of the Administrative Office Dr Nicole Foeger and expert Armin Schmolmueller. 85 doctoral supervisors from 15 universities and research institutes and 14 members of academic ethics committees from 12 research and higher education institutions participated in the trainings.

Ombudsperson

The academic community delved into research integrity