Training and resources

As part of Academic Integrity Week, there will be three sessions specifically related to research integrity. Further information and registration available on: https://staff.mq.edu.au/teach/curriculum-assessment/academic-integrity/academic-integrity-week

What do Australian researchers think about integrity and its training?
(Tue 18 Oct 2022, 5pm - 6pm)

Springer Nature and the Australian Academy of Science conducted a survey of researchers from the Australian research community to find out what they know about research integrity and how it’s taught. Results were encouraging overall but also revealed some concerning gaps. A quarter of participants agreed strongly that there is a problem with “a lack of integrity in planning, conducting and reporting research to ensure reliable and reproducible research.” But this unease was disproportionately distributed across different discipline clusters. In this webinar, Dr Ed Gerstner, Director of Research Environment Alliances, Springer Nature, will explore the results and findings.

Global Ethics Day: Building a Social Licence to use sensitive data from government sources
(Wed 19 Oct 2022, 2pm - 3pm)

Health research around the world relies on access to data, and much of the most valuable, reliable, and comprehensive data collections are held by governments. These collections, which contain data on whole populations, are a powerful tool in the hands of researchers, especially when they are linked and analysed, and can help to address “wicked problems” in health and emerging global threats such as COVID-19. At the same time, these data collections contain sensitive information that must only be used in ways that respect the values, interests, and rights of individuals and their communities. Come to this webinar to learn more about responsible research access to government data collections for health research.

This session will be presented by Carolyn Adams, Senior Lecturer, Macquarie Law School, Dr Felicity Flack, Manager, Policy and Client Services at Population Health Research Network, and Judith Allen, Honorary fellow, University of Western Australia Law School.

Research Integrity Symposium: Integrity in the scientific literature: retractions, papermills and honesty in peer review
(Thu 20 Oct 2022, 10am - 12pm, via Zoom, in-person attendance at Room G03, 1 Wally's Walk)

Transparency and honesty in scientific publication is crucial for maintaining trust in research. Researchers need to be able to trust that what they read is genuine, accurate, and has been peer reviewed in a fair and equitable way. The public needs to be able to trust that research being published is reliable and robust. Retractions for misconduct are becoming more common and have thrown shade on the desirable process of retraction of papers due to honest mistakes or irreproducible data. New threats to integrity like paper-mills are emerging whilst peer review systems have been facing increasing criticism.

Hosted by Professor Mark Connor, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences, join this symposium to hear about experiences and insights of several researchers in navigating these complexities, including Associate Professor Linda Beaumont, Associate Professor Michelle Power and Natalie Grima from Macquarie University; and Associate Professor Nicola Smith, from the School of Medical Sciences, UNSW Sydney.

Any queries about these events can be directed to the Research Integrity team via research.integrity@mq.edu.au.

Data management across all stages of the research data lifecycle is an integral component of research integrity.

Research Data Management (RDM) Online is a self-directed introductory course to RDM available to all Macquarie staff on Workday. The course covers essential topics including data management planning, storage and security, naming and metadata, repositories, and best practice including the FAIR principles. Completion of the course will assist researchers in submitting their Data Management Plans in FoRA.

Macquarie students can self-enroll via iLearn.

Any queries regarding the course can be directed to the Research Integrity Team (Dr Paul Sou or Dr Shannon Smith).