Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR): Research Integrity

Date: 

Wednesday, January 15, 2020, 12:30pm to 2:00pm

Location: 

Armenise Amphitheater, 200 Longwood Ave.
Register: Harvard Training Portal | Course Info
Description:
Integrity in life sciences research is publicly called into question most often when a spectacular case of fraud appears in the news cycle. Most academic scientists believe that serious instances of misconduct are rare and represent the actions of a few bad actors.  While this intuition may or may not be accurate, its overemphasis serves to draw attention away from a host of “environmental factors” within traditional academic medical research that are worth closer examination – especially at the student/trainee/junior investigator stage.
The readings selected for this session make for mostly entertaining journalistic reading.  A series of high-profile cases have created a “public relations” problem for life sciences researchers.  A number of important and serious consequences to a variety of stakeholders when misconduct occurs on a grand scale.  The extent to which questionable research practices may occur on a lesser scale and the effect the research environment has on encouraging misconduct are also explored.
RCR course is run by the HMS Center for Bioethics.
Course Directors: Sadath A. Sayeed, MD, JD and James Gould, PhD
RCR is required for ALL HMS/HSDM postdocs.