University of Tartu in cooperation with PRINTEGER project held a conference on research integrity

On the 10th of February, international conference “Researching with Integrity” took place that was dedicated to the topic of research integrity in Estonia, Europe, and worldwide.

The conference “Researching with Integrity” was centred on defining misconduct and questionable practices, and what makes them different from good research. The first draft of the Estonian Code of Conduct for Research Integrity initiated by the Estonian Research Council was introduced.

“The rules of the game in research have become more complicated,” said the main organiser of the event, head of the Centre for Ethics Prof Margit Sutrop. She added that researchers expect more and more support and advice from their universities and research organisations, to keep up with ever-changing demands. “Our goal was to point out that not all responsibility can be placed solely on researchers. Organisation and organisational culture play an important role in what comes to enabling and supporting its researchers to follow code of conduct,” said Prof Sutrop, who deemed the conference successful.

The Head of Estonian Research Council Andres Koppel said that Estonia also needs a framework for research integrity to avoid mistakes. “Estonian Code of Conduct for Research Integrity should become a reference point, a guideline for different research organisations to develop their own, more specific instructions in order to avoid committing offence against good conduct and how to prosecute misconduct in general,” Koppel added.

Interactive workshops and a panel discussion at the conference offered researchers an opportunity to have their say in the creation of the Estonian Code of Conduct for Research Integrity and to discuss what kind of conduct is recommended, permitted or condemnable in research.

The keynote speakers were Dr Isidoros Karatzas (Head of the Ethics and Research Integrity Sector, European Commission, DG Research & Innovation), Prof Krista Varantola (Chair of the National Advisory Board on Research Integrity in Finland and a member of the ALLEA workgroup on science and ethics), Dr Daniele Fanelli (Senior Research Scientists at the Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford (METRICS), Stanford University) and Prof Eric Breit (Research Professor at the Work Research Institute, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences).

The conference took place in the framework of the National Programme “Values Development in Estonian Society 2009–2013” for the years 2015–2020, funded by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research. Before the conference, a workshop for doctoral students from Konstanz University and the University of Tartu took place. The workshop was organised by the Centre for Ethics of the University of Tartu and as a project of the Baltic-German University Liaison Office supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds from the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic Germany.

View the photo gallery

View the videos and the presentations from the conference

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 665926.