The empirical and behavioural approach to research ethics and integrity
HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions
Basic Information
- Identifier
- HORIZON-WIDERA-2022-ERA-01-91
- Programme
- European Research Area
- Programme Period
- 2021 - 2027
- Status
- Closed (31094503)
- Opening Date
- January 19, 2022
- Deadline
- April 20, 2022
- Deadline Model
- single-stage
- Budget
- €5,500,000
- Keywords
- Ethics in research and innovationPsychologyResearch integrity and research misconductSocial and behavioural sciencePublic trust in scienceCriminologyResearch misconductSociologyResearch ethics
Description
Projects are expected to contribute to the following expected outcomes:
Trust in science is key for an inclusive, open and democratic society.[1] To sustain that trust, it is pivotal all research is conducted in line with the highest standards on research ethics and integrity. Research misconduct, in any stage of the research process, can undermine public trust in research and may amount to severe socio-economic consequences.
Several factors may lead researchers to breach research ethics and integrity standards and engage in questionable research practices. While some of these factors are systemic and institutional, individual factors may contribute to researchers’ behaviour within the institutional environments in which they operate. While researchers mostly act with integrity , they sometimes (and often unintentionally) end up engaging in questionable practices that could lead to transgressions, engulfing research teams, departments, institutions and on rare occasions, even national research systems. In order to develop a comprehensive preventive policy and support research organizations and research funders to uphold the highest standards of research ethics and integrity, there is a need to explore in depth the behavioural and organizational factors that may facilitate researchers engaging in questionable practices and misconduct and develop methodologies to address those factors.
This action aims to improve the understanding of researchers’ behaviours and incorporate this knowledge in measures aiming at enhancing promotion of ethics and integrity principles through shared responsibility (individual and institutional), improved education and training processes and qualified mentoring and support. Guaranteeing a generalised and consistently high level of research ethics and integrity, could drastically improve the relevance, robustness, accessibility and dissemination of research results and enhance societal trust in the scientific process.
Scope:In order to elucidate behavioural factors that may lead researchers to breach standards of research ethics and integrity, this action should perform a literature review, map the existing knowledge on behavioural ethics and moral psychology and identify research outcomes and research needs.
Based on the results of the literature review the action should develop a casuistry-based methodology to address research misconduct. This methodology should also take into account personal and institutional responsibilities for the promotion of research integrity and relevant research and efforts on the rehabilitation and reintegration of researchers. Particular attention should be paid to issues related to the mental health and wellbeing of researchers, especially for those employed in uncertain work conditions (short-term contracts, early career researchers, students, etc.), including with respect to bullying and sexual harassment as well as other forms of gender-based violence.
Based on the results of the literature review, the action should conduct a public consultation process with all involved stakeholders and ensuring adequate representation of young students and early career researchers. The literature review and the consultation process should also incorporate real life experiences from researchers, members of ethics and misconduct committees, Integrity and Ethics officers (and the local and national level).Participation of the private sector is strongly encouraged, especially as behavioural studies on ethical conduct in industry have been widely published and discussed.
Publicly available results from relevant EU funded research projects[2] (e.g. SOP4RI, Integrity, PRO-Ethics, TRUST, PRO-RES, Path2Integirty) should be taken into account. Structured cooperation with the e-platform Embassy of Good Science[3] and the European Network ENRIO, is necessary.
In order to achieve the expected outcomes, international cooperation is strongly advised, in particular with countries which have concluded an international agreement on science and technology with the European Union. Participants from countries, which are not eligible for funding according to the General Annexes, may take part in the project as associated partners.
The action should develop:
- An identification of current needs in improving institutional research culture, taking into account the potential unequal impacts on people of different genders;
- Specific course material to enhance and supplement current efforts on research ethics and integrity that stem from (but not limited to) EU-funded projects (see https://www.embassy.science/);
- Guidelines to facilitate adoption of the gained knowledge in host institutions - as a supplement to existing Standard Operating procedures (see SOP4RI, https://www.sops4ri.eu/). These guidelines should also cover responsible mentoring, supervision and role modelling;
- Methodologies for measuring the short-, medium- and long-term impact of ethics and integrity trainings in the attitudes and behaviours of students and researchers and their ethical conduct in research and innovation; and
- A best practice manual, based on case studies of implemented measures that analyse what works and what does not work in various contexts, to enable practice-oriented learning.
All outputs of the action must be available on the e-platform Embassy of Good Science web site (https://www.embassy.science/)
Cross-cutting Priorities:Digital Agenda
Artificial Intelligence
[1]Bonn Declaration on Freedom of Scientific Research, adopted at the Ministerial Conference on the European Research Area on 20 October 2020 in Bonn, https://www.bmbf.de/files/10_2_2_Bonn_Declaration_en_final.pdf.
[2]Detailed information of the mentioned EU funded projects can be found on CORDIS web site (https://cordis.europa.eu/ )
Destination & Scope
Introduction
Horizon Europe has a new level of ambition – to maximise the impact of EU research and innovation funding for European science, economy and the wider society. It marks a paradigm change in the design of the EU R&I Framework Programmes (FP) from an activity-driven to an impact-driven programme. Coupled to this ambition is the relaunching of the European Research Area (ERA) as described in the recently published Commission Communication entitled A new ERA for Research and Innovation (COM/2020/628 final of 30.09.2020).
The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates the importance of R&I cooperation to deliver solutions to society’s most demanding needs. Delivering Europe’s recovery is a priority as are the green and digital twin transitions. To match these challenges, a new level of ambition that links better R&I with the economy, as well as with education and training, is necessary to put the EU’s scientific knowledge to work.
The new ERA calls for deepening existing priorities and initiatives through new and stronger approaches. The green and digital transitions and the recovery call for cooperation between the Commission and the Member States. They require the setting of new priorities, launching ambitious joint initiatives and developing common approaches between policies.
To address these requirements, Destination 3 of Annex 11 of the Horizon Europe Work Programme, will support efforts to reform and enhance the EU R&I system. Destination 3 is built around four strands corresponding to the four objectives set out in the ERA Communication: 1. Prioritise investments and reforms; 2. Improve access to excellence; 3. Translate R&I results into the economy and 4. Deepen the ERA. The principle of excellence, meaning that the best researchers with the best ideas that respond best to the societal challenges obtain funding, remains the cornerstone for all investments under the ERA.
Strand 1 recognises the importance of prioritising investments and reforms to accelerate the green and digital transformation and to increase competitiveness as well as the speed and depth of the recovery. It offers support for policy makers and addresses the need for better analysis and evidence, including simplifying and facilitating the inter-play between national and European R&I systems.
Strand 2 addresses the need to improve access to excellence and to increase the performance of R&I systems, building on dedicated Horizon Europe measures as well as complementarities with smart specialisation strategies under the Cohesion Policy.
Strand 3 addresses the importance of translating R&I results into the economy. R&I policies should aim to boost the resilience and competitiveness of our economies and societies.
Strand 4 addresses the challenge of deepening the ERA and includes Open Science, Higher Education and Researchers, Citizen Science, Science Education, Gender and Ethics. It aims at underpinning a new ERA benefiting from knowledge creation, circulation and use. This empowers higher education institutions and research organisations to embrace a transformative process; where a highly skilled workforce circulate freely; where research outputs are shared; where gender equality is assured; where the outcomes of R&I are understood, trusted and increasingly used, by educated informed scientists and citizens to the benefit of society.
Expected impact:
Proposals for topics under this Destination should set out a credible pathway to contributing to the following expected impacts:
- Reform and Enhance the EU R&I system
- Prioritisation of investments and reforms, realisation of the recovery and the twin transitions
- Improved access to excellence
- Greater quality of the scientific production and stronger translation of R&I results into the economy
- Deepen the ERA
- Coordinated national and regional R&I programmes by pooling national resources and contributing to the alignment of national research and innovation policies
- Improved knowledge for policy making about the networking patterns of research support staff and research management
- Synergies between research & innovation and higher education policies and programmes
- Modernised higher education sector, benefitting from targeted transformations in higher education, research, and innovation
- Increased number of interconnected knowledge ecosystems, strong in knowledge creation, circulation and use
- Researchers benefit from attractive careers
- Inclusive gender equality is promoted in the European research and innovation system
- A more open and inclusive research and innovation system
- Increased capacity in the EU R&I system to conduct open science and to set it as a modus operandi of modern science
- Increased engagement of citizens with research and innovation
- Increased alignment of strategic research with society needs, expectations and values
- Identified synergies between second and third level education, and between education and business;
- Increased trust in science and R&I outcomes, and greater two-way communication between science and society
- Knowledge and a highly skilled workforce circulate freely
- Improved capacities within the EU R&I system to conduct open science
- A more open and inclusive research and innovation system
Eligibility & Conditions
General conditions
1. Admissibility conditions: described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes
Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System
2. Eligible countries: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.
3. Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
Legal entities established in non-associated third countries may exceptionally participate in this Coordination and support action.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes
5. Evaluation and award:
- Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes
- Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual
- Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes
Beneficiaries will be subject to the following additional dissemination obligations:
Proposals must include structured cooperation with the e-platform Embassy of Good Science[[www.embassy.science]], and the European Networks ENERI (European Network of Research Ethics Committees and Research Integrity Offices)[[http://eneri.eu/]] and ENRIO (European Network of Research Integrity Offices)[[http://www.enrio.eu/]].
The output material of the action must be made available on the e-platform Embassy of Good Science.
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Specific conditions
7. Specific conditions: described in the specific topic of the Work Programme.
Documents
Call documents:
Standard application form — call-specific application form is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE CSA)
Standard evaluation form — will be used with the necessary adaptations
MGA
Call-specific instructions
Essential Information for Clinical Studies
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 12. Missions
HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 13. General Annexes
HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
Support & Resources
Online Manual is your guide on the procedures from proposal submission to managing your grant.
Horizon Europe Programme Guide contains the detailed guidance to the structure, budget and political priorities of Horizon Europe.
Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ – find the answers to most frequently asked questions on submission of proposals, evaluation and grant management.
Research Enquiry Service – ask questions about any aspect of European research in general and the EU Research Framework Programmes in particular.
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European IPR Helpdesk assists you on intellectual property issues.
CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk and ETSI Research Helpdesk – the European Standards Organisations advise you how to tackle standardisation in your project proposal.
The European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their recruitment – consult the general principles and requirements specifying the roles, responsibilities and entitlements of researchers, employers and funders of researchers.
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