Scientific representative

Responsibilities Scientific representative

• To be a resource for employees who need to discuss and be advised on issues relating to research and researcher ethics, and to this end to be available for informal conversation.
• To ensure sufficient knowledge of the research-ethical declarations and rules.
• To ensure sufficient knowledge of declarations concerning authorship.
• To regularly notify people of changes in the rules or more consequential decisions of a principal nature as regards ethics, rules or other instruments of scientific control (e.g. on the KI intranet).
• When concrete measures are required, to pass them on to the relevant line organisation – normally to the head of department, but in the event of misconduct, improprieties and harassment (in accordance with the above) to the Legal Office and the University Director.

High quality, sound ethics and scientific practice

The scientific representative is to help uphold KI’s ambition to conduct high quality research in keeping with accepted scientific practice and sound research and researcher ethics. A major concern of research ethics is ensuring compliance with research-ethical declarations, while researcher ethics deals, amongst other issues, with matters relating to joint authorship and conflicts of interest.

The office of scientific representative at KI is held by a highly experienced researcher with insight into and knowledge of the rules and regulations governing research. He/she is not part of the KI line organisation and has no other position that might compromise his/her integrity or independence. The scientific representative is the chair of KI’s Ethics Council.

Limited responsibilities

It lies outside the representative’s remit to handle complaints of suspected scientific misconduct. When such matters come to his/her attention, the representative passes them on to the University Administration’s Legal Office and reports them to the University Director. Such reports must also be made for matters of suspected embezzlement, harassment or other irregularity upon which KI is obliged to act. The representative is also to alert the relevant head of department.