Good Scientific Practice

Summary

 

As a researcher, one has the privilege to work freely and creatively, pursuing own interests and adding to the knowledge base of the scientific community - and the community in general. This freedom comes with responsibility: The responsibility for self-control, accuracy, honesty, efficiency and objectivity. The scientific community has introduced rules of research integrity, which aim to preserve the freedom of research and prevent scientific misconduct.

The offered course informs about the rules of research integrity and Good Scientific Practices and how to avoid research misconduct.

Target audiences are research staff, graduate students, PostDocs as well as faculty members. The course aims to bring participants up to date with the standard statutes of research integrity (Singapore Statement, DFG Codex, Guidelines of the Hochschulrektorenkonferenz) as well as local regulations at place. It is also intended to raise awareness for the significance of Good Scientific Practices for each target group in particular. The class is structured around the DFG Curriculum „Good Scientific Practice“ for Courses in Science and Medicine | G. Sponholz | 10/2011, as well as the Horizon 2020 supported Virt2ue concept | Embassy of Good Science 2020, with particular emphasis on the following topics:

• Recognizing Scientific Misconduct
• Data storage, handling and protection,
• Documentation,
• Publication process and Authorship,
• Plagiarism / Use of AI in research processes
• Conflict Resolution / Ombudssystem.

During the workshops and lectures, participants will be engaged in discussions, group work and case studies. All participants will receive relevant material links to useful resources, a tool-kit with relevant publications, institutional guidelines as well as local contact points, which they can refer to throughout their scientific careers. These skills are also valuable to scientists who transfer to other career paths.

Michael Mende completed his degree in biology at Gutenberg University Mainz. He obtained his PhD in genetics and developmental biology, also in Mainz, in 2004. After two postdoctoral positions at King's College London, UK, and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Institute in New York, NY, USA, he coordinated the Quantitative Biosciences Munich (QBM) and International Max Planck Research School for Translational Psychiatry (IMPRS-TP) graduate programmes. Since 2019, Michael Mende has been research coordinator and animal facility lead at the Dept of Collective Behaviour of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour located at the University of Konstanz. He has held the role of ombudsman at the institute since 2020. In addition to his voluntary work as ombudsman, he is also a volunteer member of the Animal Welfare Commission of the Freiburg Regional Council. Michael is a contributor of ENRIO – the European Network of Research Integrity Officers. He has experience in teaching courses on good scientific practice since 2019.

Please register via imprs-tp@psych.mpg.de