Responsible Conduct of Research @ MTU

Author:  Seán Lacey, Sinéad McDonnell

Organisation:  Munster Technological University

Munster Technological University (MTU) is committed to promoting the responsible conduct of research (RCR) and has introduced a range of measures to support this, including policies, procedures, and training.  Since 2022, the Research Integrity & Compliance Officer in collaboration with relevant offices and postholders developed wide-ranging research related policies and procedures and complemented these with training.

in June 2022, as a component of a research study titled Responsible Conduct of Research @ MTU.  Staff (Academic, Research, Professional, Management and Support Services), along with research postgraduate students were surveyed to gain insight into perceptions of the conduct of research and supports of same in MTU. The survey initially obtained a baseline opinion on the RCR and was repeated in June 2024. 

In both surveys, findings show that most participants believe there is the expertise in MTU to deliver on open science (OS), research integrity (RI), research quality, along with research support.  Interestingly, from the 2024 data, 14.7% of participants shared that they were not familiar with any of the stated research related policies and procedures, while 48.1% of participants had not engaged in research related training in the previous two years.  However, there was an improvement in participant awareness of where to go for support in OS, RI and research ethics.  In 2022, the ranking of importance of components of good research practice were similar, while in 2024 research data management and RI were to the fore of topics that participants stated they would like to know more about.