Research integrity at Essex

At the University of Essex our research tackles a range of subjects and areas across multiple disciplines and breaks the boundaries of what we currently know. We impact globally the way people think and behave and pride ourselves on interdisciplinary study and activism. Our aim is to produce new knowledge from research that is open and conducted with integrity, carried out by researchers who are ambitious, creative and collaborative.

Integrity is an essential part of good research; it includes a multitude of things, such as adhering to institutional policies and protocols, using honest and verifiable methods in all stages of research and reporting findings clearly and transparently. Research Integrity means conducting research in such a way that allows others to have confidence and trust in the methods and the findings of the research. Find out more from the UK Research Integrity Office’s Integrity in practice toolkit (.pdf).

Training and support resources

As a researcher, it is important to be informed of your responsibilities and of best practice in research. The University offers training to ensure researchers can demonstrate awareness of the ethical implications of their research and to develop good research practice and embed a culture of research integrity.

Research Integrity essential training modules

Research integrity training resources are available on the University’s Moodle pages. For staff with research responsibilities, it is an Essential Training requirement to complete Module 1: Good Research Conduct and Module 2: Irresponsible research practices.

Other available training

For researchers who are writing an ethics application at the University of Essex for the first time, it is recommended that they complete the Moodle course Research Involving Human Participants, which provides an overview of the responsibilities researchers have when conducting research involving human participants. It also outlines the ethical considerations of such research.

For further details of specific training in research integrity and ethics that may be available, please contact the REO Research Governance team by email.  

University Code of Good Research Practice

The University Code of Good Research Practice (.pdf) provides a framework for the highest standards of personal conduct in research. The Code of Good Research Practice sets out these minimum standards of conduct applicable to all staff, students and others associated with the University who are engaged in research.

Concordat to Support Research Integrity

The Concordat to Support Research Integrity (.pdf) is a national framework for good research conduct and its governance. It comprises five commitments that apply to researchers, employers of researchers and funders of research. The commitments are:

• Upholding the highest standards of rigour and integrity in all aspects of research.
• Ensuring that research is conducted according to appropriate ethical, legal and professional frameworks, obligations and standards.
• 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.
• Using transparent, robust and fair processes to deal with allegations of research misconduct should they arise.
• Working together to strengthen the integrity of research and to reviewing progress regularly and openly. 

Principal Investigator and Supervisor responsibilities

Supervisors and Principal Investigators and others with a designated research leadership or management role, have a responsibility to ensure that the highest standards of research integrity, governance and ethical practice are met, that research activities are undertaken in compliance with the University Code of Good Research Practice (.pdf) by staff and students under their supervision, and to seek to foster a culture of openness and professional integrity in research practice.

While Supervisors and Principal investigators’ is crucial, it must be emphasised that all researchers have a personal responsibility to undertake research to the highest standards of integrity, governance and ethical practice. All researchers should seek to work in an open and professional manner.

Allegations of research misconduct

The University has in place a Procedure for the Investigation of Allegations of Misconduct in Research. The Named Person for allegations of research misconduct is the Registrar and Secretary and you can contact him via misconduct@essex.ac.uk.

At Essex, if a PGR student is suspected of research misconduct, they will be subject to the Research Integrity and Research Misconduct Procedures. For research students where the form of assessment is more akin to taught assessment (as determined by the Faculty Dean (Postgraduate)), the Faculty Dean may, as an initial action, apply instead the procedures applicable for postgraduate taught students under the Academic Offences Procedure.