Ethics and Governance

The University of Aberdeen is committed to the highest standards of corporate governance, accountability and responsibility and seeks to conform to all relevant governance guidelines and codes of practice, including those issued by the various research funding councils and the Scottish Funding Council.

The University expects the highest standards of integrity to be adhered to by its researchers. It has a Policy and Guidelines on Good Research Practice which indicate the standards of good practice required to be adopted by researchers throughout the University, and which are intended to satisfy the requirements of the various funding authorities. It also has a Statement on the Handling of Allegations of Research Misconduct.

In addition to the requirements of the various funding bodies, the University has a responsibility to protect the rights of human subjects involved in research projects and to protect them from harm, and to ensure that data and other information about research and research subjects is handled with due consideration to legislation and institutional guidelines, and is not used without the consent of the individuals concerned.

Good research practice is promoted and promulgated throughout the University by Senior Managers, and is ultimately overseen on behalf of Senate and Court by the Joint Committee on Research Ethics and Governance, which was established in January 2005.

Information on Research Ethics and Governance, including the University's Research Ethics Framework, is available here.