Student Research

1. Investigation

Possible instances of research misconduct or questionable research practices by postgraduate research students may be identified in academic departments or doctoral training centres (DTC), during assessment or thesis review processes. There may also be occasions where a complaint or concern is raised regarding student research from within or outside the University. The department / DTC should initially address the issue as follows:

• A responsible person from the student’s department or DTC, such as doctoral student programme director / ethics lead / research director or similar, in consultation with the student’s supervisor, should contact the student in writing to advise on the process to be followed. They will review any available information and ask for any further information required. This may include an interview with the student which should be followed up in writing with a record of the information provided and agreement on the completeness and validity of this. Any potential conflicts of interest should be taken into account. Consideration should include mitigating circumstances and reasonable adjustments, with the student provided with the opportunity to disclose these and allowances made where appropriate.
• The responsible person should inform the Research Integrity Officer in confidence providing a summary of the information collated. The responsible person may seek confidential advice from the Research Integrity Officer or other persons with relevant expertise.
• The responsible person will then liaise with the student’s supervisor regarding the most appropriate actions to address the complaint / concerns / issues raised.

2. Follow up actions

If it is determined that the student has been involved in questionable research practices, then these may be addressed through training, education, or other development activities; enhanced supervision / oversight; and/or mentoring or other support, and the student’s supervisor should agree in writing appropriate actions with the student.

If the issues are deemed to be sufficiently serious, the case may be referred under this Procedure, academic misconduct processes (see: Regulation 11), or other formal processes. The department / DTC may decide to instruct the student to rework elements of their thesis or mark down certain elements, as appropriate to the student’s behaviour and the disciplinary norms.

The department / DTC should also take steps to address any procedural matters or wider gaps in training and guidance that may have led to questionable research practices or potential research misconduct.

The Research Integrity Officer should maintain a log of summary information and the outcome of the review. The responsible person should keep a record of all information collated for 2 years following the conclusion of the research student’s study at the University.