Pictured at the Launch of a National Policy Statement on Ensuring Research Integrity in Ireland, Prof Anita Maguire, VP Research UCC with Ned Costello, IUA CEO and Prof Ray O’Neill VP Innovation NUI Maynooth, Chair of the Research Integrity Steering Committee. Gibson Hotel 4th June 2014 (Image by Jason Clarke Photography)
The Minister for Research and Innovation Mr Sean Sherlock TD has welcomed the launch of a National Policy Statement on Ensuring Research Integrity in Ireland. Ireland sits close to the world’s top research performing nations, in terms of research quality and impact related to its size. This policy statement aims to commit the main organisations in Irish research to the highest standards of integrity in carrying out their research so that partners and other stakeholders, and the international research community may have full confidence in the Irish research system.
Minister Sherlock said, “I am confident that the Policy Statement provides a gold standard for researchers in Ireland. It also provides a framework for inter-agency cooperation in this important area, and provides proof that Ireland is a serious player in the global research arena. I would like to congratulate the IUA, and all of the agencies and institutions involved in the initiative, on the production of a key policy document for our national research system”.
The Irish public research system is made up of research performing organisations: mainly the Universities, Institutes of Technology, state research organisations and the hospital system along with the research funding organisations. This policy statement has been developed by the Irish Universities Association (IUA) in collaboration with the following organisations:
- Health Research Board (HRB)
- Royal Irish Academy (RIA)
- Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)
- Institutes of Technology Ireland (IoTI)
- Higher Education Authority (HEA)
- Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT)
- Enterprise Ireland (EI)
- Irish Research Council (IRC)
- Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI)
- Teagasc Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI)
While this policy statement has been developed jointly by the IUA and the listed sponsors, it provides a robust framework which might usefully be adopted by other research performing organisations in Ireland.
The Irish Universities Association and its member institutions have long been committed to the highest standards of research conduct and integrity, and individual institutions have procedures in place to underpin this. Similar commitments to upholding integrity have been made by IoTI and its members, and by DIT and other organisations.
However, the transparency of policy and practice will be enhanced by publication of a national statement which clarifies policy and sets out agreed good practice in promoting and ensuring research integrity. This commitment is shared by the universities, IoTI, DIT, Teagasc, RCSI and the main Irish research funding agencies; in particular, the Health Research Board, Science Foundation Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, the Higher Education Authority and the Royal Irish Academy.
The Policy Statement can be downloaded from: http://www.iua.ie/press-publications/publications/iua-publications/
