Swimming against the research current

Accountability in Research, 2013

Responsible conduct of research (RCR) education requirements, resources, and research have proliferated over the past 20 years, but evidence and experience highlight shortcomings in many domains: goals, audience, content, teaching tools, use of the Internet for instruction, instructors, allocation of responsibility for education, education requirements, and sources of funding. Revised approaches and suggested roles and responsibilities are proposed to meet these challenges. The unifying theme for these recommendations is to shift the focus from RCR education to RCR culture building.

Prometheus

We posit that, once scandals become unavoidable, they can be considered for transformation into opportunities for research institutions, scientific communities and science regulators to implement in-depth changes and policies they would otherwise oppose. Research institutions and scientific communities can take advantage of scandals by participating proactively in constructing their consequences. We develop four mechanisms by which scandals can be used to bring positive change in research institutions and scientific communities. These are nullifying the high-status protection of almost untouchable researchers, ‘resetting’ the system that was conducive to scandals, changing the reference point upon which the entity is judged to emphasize progress and offering a learning opportunity to involved parties.

LaPSe of Reason, 2020

Deleted Journal, 2023

I made the remarks herein in a 2023 address to the alumni of Merck KGaA's Innovation Cup-the world's top young scientists. Early-career researchers should be aware that they may see their work attacked, suppressed, or harshly dissected in the non-academic media. They may be personally threatened. The recently heightened danger to researchers is due to their necessary attention to problems with global social impact, such as climate change; to popular backlash against technology industries; vested economic or religious interests; or other reasons examined here. This essay lists the kinds of research that attracts extreme and sometimes violent opposition, the sources of opposition to scientific research, the tactics used to oppose the research, and the ways researchers can protect themselves and harden their research against attack.

A Practical Guide to the Conduct of Field Research in the Social Sciences, 2019

It is an exciting, vital time to be a member of the Intramural Research Program (IRP) at the National Institutes of Health. Research is increasingly multidisciplinary and relies on innovative technologies that are developing almost too quickly to count. No better example of this is the intramural response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in which the IRP led the charge in understanding pathophysiology, in diagnosis, in treatment, and in the development of safe and effective vaccines. Team science is now the expected norm. Because of the technological advances, and team-science approaches, it is more important than ever to promote a culture of research integrity on intramural campuses. A culture of integrity is one in which every individual understands how to perform research ethically and does so. These guidelines were written to provide important information about how to perform ethical research and maintain a culture of research integrity in the IRP. I would like to draw your attention to the section on our "Research Environment," and specifically to the chapter on IRP Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility. The IRP is committed to carrying out its mission while breaking down barriers that prevent any member of our community from contributing their talents. We need and we value diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and skills, to be a successful program. We are committed to ensuring that every person in the IRP is welcomed, retained, and encouraged to be successful, and to experience a culture of respect and inclusion. It is essential that every investigator involved in research at NIH read, understand, and incorporate the Guidelines and Policies into everyday practice. The progress and excellence of NIH intramural research are dependent on our vigilance in maintaining the highest quality of conduct in every aspect of science. These guidelines were developed by the Scientific Directors in 2007 then revised in 2016, 2019 and 2021 by the intramural scientists serving on the Committee on Scientific Conduct and Ethics. This edition was approved on (date) by the Scientific Directors.

CBE—Life Sciences Education

Advancement of the scientific enterprise relies on individuals conducting research in an ethical and responsible manner. Educating emergent scholars in the principles of ethics/responsible conduct of research (E/RCR) is therefore critical to ensuring such advancement. The recent impetus to include authentic research opportunities as part of the undergraduate curriculum, via course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), has been shown to increase cognitive and noncognitive student outcomes. Because of these important benefits, CUREs are becoming more common and often constitute the first research experience for many students. However, despite the importance of E/RCR in the research process, we know of few efforts to incorporate E/RCR education into CUREs. The Ethics Network for Course-based Opportunities in Undergraduate Research (ENCOUR) was created to address this concern and promote the integration of E/RCR within CUREs in the biological sciences and related disciplines...

Research Ideas and Outcomes

The Path2Integrity project is a two-component coordination and support action to enhance research integrity cultures. Path2Integrity develops and fosters role-models and rotatory role-play scenarios for secondary school students, undergraduates, graduates, and early career researchers. A Path2Integrity campaign for scientific facts about research integrity and role-models, raises awareness of research integrity within secondary schools and universities. A complementary Path2Integrity handbook of instructions, which contains vivid stories involving research integrity and rotatory role-playing increases students’ ability to form judgements about the acceptance or rejection of norms in research. A train-the-trainer program shows how to use the Path2Integrity handbook of instructions, especially how to apply the handbook to the educators’ discipline and how to implement it into organisations. Partners from the Consortium have award-winning experience in creating those settings, which al...

Salvage, 2021

The Modern Monetary Trick Modern monetary theory (MMT) has become the flavour of the time in many leftist circles in recent years. The left-wing Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is apparently a supporter; Bernie Sanders' former economic adviser Stephanie Kelton is a leading exponent and populariser of MMT. In the UK, too, MMT is widely expounded as the foundation of left-wing economic policy in opposition to neoclassical and 'austerity' economics. Indeed, as US President Biden applies his fiscal stimulus packages, the idea of funding

DEYANIRA BERENICE PASILLAS FECHA DE ENTREGA. 11/OCT/2015

Science or anti-science?

A critique of some recent attempts to discover modern science and technology in old Sanskrit texts.