Partner Institutions

Partners of the Research England Open Research Programme

University of Aberdeen

abdn.ac.uk

UKRN links

Institutional lead Professor Gary Macfarlane (0.2% FTE)
Local Network Lead Dr Jessica Butler (0% FTE)

Open Research

The University of Aberdeen is committed to open research as set out in the Aberdeen 2040 Strategy and our Open Research Statement.

The University fully endorses and implements a range of external policies, guidelines and frameworks, including those adopted by major funding bodies (such as Research England, Scottish Funding Council (SFC), UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) and the Wellcome Trust) to promote open research. This includes the University being a signatory to the following:

Institutional policies

Key information relating to the research ethics and governance arrangements in place across the University is available on the Research Governance  webpage.

Our new Research Publications Policy, including a Rights Retention element, goes live in May 2023. We are also in the process of introducing a new Responsible Use of Metrics Policy.

The University policy on Research Data Management complies with all current research integrity and governance standards and funders’ mandates for sharing research data.

Guidance and Support

Guidance for researchers on data management can be found on the Digital Research webpages and information on open data and other open research topics is available on the Library’s Open Research pages.
 

Tools and systems

Training

Training and Resources on Open Research are provided across the University, of particular note are those provided by The Open Research Team in the Library, Digital Research team  and Research and Innovation.

Responsible Research Assessment / Recognition and Reward for open research

The University of Aberdeen promotes the highest standards of research and strives to provide a working environment that supports and rewards a positive research culture. We have embarked on a programme of work that aims to make the University of Aberdeen a place that researchers want to come to do their research, to develop their skills, and to contribute to the ongoing success of the University.

The University has undertaken a number of initiatives aimed at developing our research culture and further activities are underway. More information can be found on our Research Culture webpages.

Activities so far include:

Research Ethics and Integrity

The University of Aberdeen is committed to ensuring that research integrity and governance is firmly embedded in the University’s ethos and culture, in compliance with the Universities UK Concordat to Support Research Integrity. Research ethics processes are managed by six internal Ethics Boards which cluster cognate disciplines and methodologies. These are overseen by the Ethics Advisory Group which reports to the University Research Committee and oversees the activities of the individual ethics boards to ensure the highest ethical standards in our research practices.

The University ensures that all researchers (staff and students) are provided with appropriate training in relation to research ethics, governance and research integrity as part of its commitment towards staff development and to achieving the highest standards of research governance.

A generic online ethics training programme is available to all research staff and students, which was developed in consultation with the University’s Ethics Committees/Ethics Review Boards.  A mandatory online training programme on research integrity for all research staff and students, and also staff involved in supporting research activities. The programme includes training on the key generic issues which underpin research integrity and is applicable to staff at all stages of their career and to all disciplines.