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Research integrity

UniSQ is committed to creating and maintaining a research culture that enables responsible conduct and encourages integrity through mentoring, education and clear research policies.  

The culture at UniSQ is fundamentally important to support honest, ethical and conscientious research. Understanding the University’s, mission, vision, values, organisation and governance is essential for all UniSQ researchers.

Researchers become familiar with these through:

The development of personal skills such as those related to time management, attention to detail, resilience, critical thinking and working effectively with others can also support research integrity. The University’s Researcher Development and Training SharePoint site and People Portfolio Capability Development SharePoint site offer support and development opportunities for researchers. The Graduate Research School also offered tailored support for HDR students undertaking research training.   

Open dialogue with colleagues, peers and Research Integrity Advisors is another important way researchers can develop their understanding of responsible research conduct and develop strategies to avoid situations where this is compromised.

Research Integrity Advisors also play an important role in building the culture of research integrity and ethics at the University. Our Research Integrity Advisors are here to help and provide advice on responsible research conduct.

An understanding of the principles of responsible research is fundamental for researchers to meet their obligations. Guidance on a number of areas of research practice are included in the tabs below.

The Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research, 2018 is a joint publication of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the Australian Research Council (ARC) and Universities Australia (UA). The Code focuses on eight core principles of responsible research conduct:
  1. Integrity
  2. Rigour
  3. Transparency
  4. Fairness
  5. Respect
  6. Recognition
  7. Accountability
  8. Promotion

It represents the core behaviours that characterise responsible conduct of research and outlines the principles everyone undertaking research are expected to uphold at all times. It also has specific responsibilities for institutions and individual researchers. The University has produced a Research Code of Conduct Policy and related procedures to interpret the Code to a UniSQ context.

Potential breaches of the Code are taken seriously and the process for reporting, assessing and investigating breaches is outlines in the University's Research Code of Conduct Management of Potential Breaches Procedure. 

Individuals who have a concern about the conduct of research at UniSQ may wish to speak with a Research Integrity Advisor in the first instance. Formal complaints can be made by emailing ResearchIntegrity@unisq.edu.au

Complainants should attempt to provide all information pertinent to the matter in the initial research conduct complaint. At a minimum, a research conduct complaint should contain:

  • the name and contact details of the complainant;
  • the name of the individual(s) who they allege has/have committed a breach;
  • details relating to individual(s) that the complainant has discussed the matter with;
  • information indicating how the complainant or others are affected by the matter (if relevant);
  • the nature and details of the potential breach;
  • when the potential breach occurred;
  • if applicable, indicate any immediate concerns related to human, animal or environmental safety; and
  • an acknowledgement that as the complainant, you will keep the matter confidential while it is being assessed.

Research conduct complaints may be made on an anonymous basis, however complainants should know that the capacity to deal with anonymous research conduct complaints is restricted by the complainant's desire to remain anonymous. Research conduct complaints of this type do not allow for the investigation of specific concerns.

UniSQ recognises the need for researchers to be informed on issues relating to research integrity and the conduct of responsible research, including research ethics matters. These issues are vital to the future of UniSQ's research outcomes and success.  

All work involving animals, cadaver animals, and cadaveric animal tissue must be assessed and appropriate approvals obtained before commencing. For more information please visit the animal ethics webpage.

Before commencing research, researchers (including undergraduate and postgraduate students) who wish to undertake projects involving human participants must obtain approval from the Human Research Ethics Committee. No research being conducted with or about people, or their data or tissue can take place without ethics clearance. For more information please visit the human ethics webpage.

For information regarding the requirements for research involving biological materials please visit Biosafety Central.

Contact us

Senior Manager Research Integrity and Ethics: Dr Amanda Fernie

Email: researchintegrity@unisq.edu.au

Contact: Research Integrity Advisors