Research Ethics Week

Research Ethics Week is an annual week-long series of college and department-led educational opportunities focused on professional development and best practices to promote, maintain, and model high standards of ethics and integrity in research. Research Ethics Week 2024 was held February 26 - March 1, 2024. Research Ethics Day was held February 28, 2024.

Research Ethics Week (UMN logo above text)

February 26 - March 1, 2024

 

Questions about Research Ethics Week? Contact Danielle Rintala, Director of Research Integrity and Compliance (rinta015@umn.edu).


Ethics in AI: Transforming Healthcare Responsibly

PRESENTED BY THE SCHOOL OF NURSING
Watch "Ethics in AI, Transforming Healthcare Responsibly"

Speaker: Martin Michalowski PhD, FAMIA, Associate Professor, School of Nursing

AI is revolutionizing numerous fields from healthcare and finance to transportation and education. This presentation explores ethics in AI, how to transform healthcare responsibility, and the opportunity nursing has to provide guidance.

Contact Margaret Celebrezze, celeb004@umn.edu, with questions.


Assigning Authorship CRediT for Journal Submissions

PRESENTED BY THE RESEARCH & INNOVATION OFFICE
February 26, 2024
Watch: Assigning Authorship CRediT for Journal Submissions 

Speaker: Kimberly Kirkpatrick, Associate Vice President for Research and Innovation

This presentation discusses the authorship CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) system for determining author contributions in journal submissions. The CRediT taxonomy is designed to increase transparency in authorship contributions, reduce disputes, and facilitate collaboration. Many publishers currently endorse this system. The presentation provides guidance on the application of the CRediT taxonomy to different fields and types of research.

Contact Kimberly Kirkpatrick, kimkirk@umn.edu, with questions.


Understanding the Financial Conflict of Interest Review and Management Process

PRESENTED BY THE RESEARCH & INNOVATION OFFICE
February 26, 2024
Watch the presentation "Understanding the Financial Conflict of Interest Review and Management Process"

Speaker: Jon Guden, Associate Program Director-COI, Office of Institutional Compliance

An overview of the University's financial conflict of interest review and management process for both individual and institutional conflicts in research. The presentation will address conflicts of interest involving University start-ups, SBIR and STTR awards, and human participant research. 

Contact Jon Guden, jguden@umn.edu, with questions.


Public Records: The Ethical Relationship Between Your Research and the Public's Trust in Government

PRESENTED BY THE OFFICE OF GENERAL COUNSEL
February 26, 2024

Speakers: 

  • Kaley Klanica, Senior Associate General Counsel, Office of the General Counsel
  • Laurie Beyer-Kropuenske, Director, Data Access & Privacy, Chief Data Practices Compliance Officer, Office of General Counsel
  • Dan Volkosh, Assistant Director, Data Access and Privacy, Office of the General Counsel
  • Susan McKinney, CRM, Sr. Associate Director and University Records Manager, Data Access and Privacy, Office of the General Counsel

Because the University of Minnesota is a public institution, it is subject to public record laws that intend to hold government accountable. These laws give anyone the ability to file a public record request with the University and ask for copies of public (and sometimes even private) data. In this session, attendees were provided with: an overview of how the University responds to public record requests when they pertain to research; examples of public and private data, including trade secrets; how to respond when your records are requested; and things to keep in mind as you create data in your University role.

Additional Information from the Office of General Counsel about Data Access and Privacy.

Contact Dan Volkosh, volko031@umn.edu, with questions.


Inviting Controversy: Political Surveys in A Polarized Nation

PRESENTED BY UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, MORRIS
February 27, 2024
Watch "Inviting Controversy: Political Surveys in A Polarized Nation" 

Presenter: Tim Lindberg, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Minnesota, Morris

Asking about political viewpoints in the current polarized environment of the United States is challenging. Yet, it is arguably even more important to do so because shifts in political power can have greater impacts if the parties are further apart on political and policy values. Tim Lindberg's research using surveys has primarily focused on the urban-rural distinction in politics and has completed a major mail survey and multiple online surveys using Qualtrics participants in the past five years. In this discussion, Lindberg focus on the importance of asking about politics in surveys in ways that give respondents a voice in the process while minimizing the potential for undesirable priming effects. Lindberg also discuss the difficulty in finding external funding to do political survey research in the current political climate.

If interested, the data collected from the 2018 Rural Matters Survey is available via a report on the Rural Matters website.

Contact Tim Lindberg, lind1057@morris.umn.edu, with questions. 


Understanding Research Misconduct: A Primer

PRESENTED BY THE RESEARCH & INNOVATION OFFICE
February 27, 2024
Watch "Understanding Research Misconduct: A Primer"

Presenter: Danielle Rintala, Director of Research Integrity and Compliance, Research and Innovation Office, and a Ph.D. Student in CEHD OLPD- Higher Education

This webinar defines what constitutes research misconduct, how RIC handles allegations of research misconduct, and strategies for maintaining integrity and ethics in high-pressure 'publish or perish' research environments. This presentation was sponsored by the Research and Innovation Office.

Contact Danielle Rintala, rinta015@umn.edu, with questions. 


CVM Research Ethics Day Panel - Research in an A.I. World: Balancing Innovation and Integrity

PRESENTED BY COLLEGE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE
February 27, 2024
Watch "Research in an A.I. World: Balancing Innovation and Integrity"

Panelists: 

  • Dr. Joseph Konstan, Associate Dean for Research, College of Science and Engineering
  • Dr. Gerard Kramer, Associate Professor, Department of Veterinary Population Medicine
  • Dr. Jonah Cullen, Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Veterinary Population Medicine
  • Manci Li, Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences
  • Drew Swartz,  Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Veterinary Population Medicine
  • ChatGPT

The College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) hosts their Research Ethics Day interactive panel featuring: Dr. Joseph Konstan, Dr. Gerald Cramer, Dr. Jonah Cullen, and ChatGPT. This event is jointly sponsored by the CVM's Office of the Associate Dean for Research and the CVM Research Committee.

Contact Adrienne Burns, adrienne@umn.edu, with questions.


The NIH's Safe & Respectful Workplace Policy & It's Everyday Impact 

February 27, 2024

Speakers: 

  • Pamela Webb, Associate Vice President, Sponsored Projects Administration
  • Kaley Klanica, Senior Associate General Counsel, Office of the General Counsel
  • Sarah Averbeck, Director of Compliance, Medical School

Watch this conversation on how the NIH's expectations for a safe and respectful workplace impact our every day work environments. You'll hear from three University experts about their experiences and recommendations around the NIH's policy. 

Contact Sarah Averbeck, saverbec@umn.edu, with questions.


A Conversation on Reproducibility

PRESENTED BY UMN DATA SCIENCE INITIATIVE
February 27, 2024
Watch: "A Conversation on Reproducibility"

Panelists:

  • Alan Love, Department of Philosophy, College of Liberal Arts, Twin Cities
  • Steven Stovitz, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, UMN Medical School
  • Erich Kummerfeld, Institute for Health Informatics, Office of Academic Clinical Affairs

Reproducibility and replicability are the cornerstone of good science. Much has been talked about on this topic in the recent years, we add to the conversation with a panel of experts discussing and taking questions on:

  • Open data and open code policies
  • Development of high-quality data repositories
  • Support of the development and community awareness of findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR) principles
  • Management of bias in data
  • Generalizability and inclusiveness in data and data collection/analysis and more!

Email umn-dsi@umn.edu with questions.


Why and How to Create Community Agreements in Community-Engaged Research

PRESENTED BY LIBERAL ARTS ENGAGEMENT HUB
February 27, 2024

Speaker: Xun Yu, graduate research assistant, the Liberal Arts Engagement Hub

This hybrid workshop offered a unique Community Agreements Workshop to help develop ideas for starting community-university partnerships. Topics covered:

  1. Understanding the concept of community agreements by building a set of community agreements together in this workshop
  2. Preparing to construct a written, more official partnership document: the Memorandum of Understanding 
  3. Talking through and challenging some common colonial assumptions in community collaborative work

Contact Xun Yu (yu015390@umn.edu) or Anna Freyberg (freyb019@umn.edu) with questions.


Stock photo of a metropolis with business images overlayed

Annual Research Ethics Day Conference
Building Partnerships to Advance Ethical Research: Collaborators, Communities & Companies

PRESENTED BY CONSORTIUM ON LAW AND VALUES IN HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT & THE LIFE SCIENCES
February 28, 2024
Watch the videos from "Building Partnerships to Advance Ethical Research: Collaborators, Communities & Companies"

Speakers: 

  • Joshua C. Denny, MD, MS, Chief Executive Officer, All of Us Research Program
    Karriem S. Watson, DHSc, MS, MPH, Chief Engagement Officer, All of Us Research Program
  • Geeta Krishna Swamy, MD, Haywood Brown, MD, Distinguished Professor of Women’s Health; Vice Dean for Scientific Integrity, Duke University School of Medicine; Associate Vice President for Research, Duke University
  • L. Michelle Bennett, PhD, Senior Vice President, Roger Schwarz & Associates; Principal, LMBennett Consulting, LLC; formerly Director, Center for Research Strategy, National Cancer Institute (NCI), NIH
  • Karina L. Walters, PhD, MSW, Director, Tribal Health Research Office (THRO), National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • Rev. Alvin C. Hathaway, Sr, PhD, DMin, Chief Executive Officer, African Ancestry Neuroscience Research Initiative; Principal of the African American Clergy Medical Research Initiative; Pastor Emeritus, Union Baptist Church
  • Carolynn Thomas Jones, DNP, MSPH, RN, Clinical Professor; Director, Master of Clinical Research Program; Co-Director of Workforce Development, Center for Clinical and Translational Science, College of Nursing, Ohio State University
  • Jennifer McLeland, PhD, ACRP-PM, CCRC, Manager, Division of Clinical Research, Washington University School of Medicine; Chair, Professional Ethics Committee, Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP)
  • Erwin Gianchandani, PhD, Assistant Director of the Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP), National Science Foundation (NSF) 
  • Jorge L. Contreras, JD, James T. Jensen Endowed Professor for Transactional Law, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law; Adjunct Professor, Department of Human Genetics, University of Utah School of Medicine
  • Shashank Priya, PhD, Vice President for Research & Innovation; Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota 
     

As research teams become larger and more complex, forging effective partnerships to ensure the ethical conduct of research has become more challenging. Yet creating successful collaborations to ensure the responsible conduct of research is crucial at all stages of the research process. Researchers need to build a team that successfully integrates investigators, research staff, and trainees in the responsible conduct of research. They need to be able to partner respectfully in community-engaged and community-led research, building alliances to advance equity, inclusion, and cross-learning. And in creating relationships with funders and companies to develop and apply the research, researchers need to fulfill ethical duties including disclosure and managing conflicts of interest and commitment.

These interdisciplinary experts joined a unique conference on how to build partnerships with investigators, communities, clinical research professionals, and companies to promote the ethical conduct and translation of research. National leaders discussed successes and challenges in a wide range of research programs. They considered the elements of successful collaboration that promote research integrity, inclusivity, mutual respect, and accountability in the conduct of research. As a public, land-grant research university, we aim to explore these vital issues with our faculty, staff, trainees, students, and community, as well as a national audience.


Research Security 

PRESENTED BY THE RESEARCH & INNOVATION OFFICE
February 29, 2024
Watch "Research Security"

Speaker: Pat Briscoe, Research Security and Export Controls Officer

This presentation is about Research Security and the changes proposed through the proposed NSPM-33 guidelines to bolster research security at institutions in the U.S. The proposed changes will impact the entire research community and the ethical considerations that will have to be undertaken in international research collaborations are discussed. 

Contact bris0022@umn.edu with questions. 


HIPCO 2024: Departmental Updates and Process Overview

PRESENTED BY HIPCO
February 29, 2024
Watch the Presentation: "HIPCO 2024: Departmental Updates and Process Overview"

Speaker: Tahnee Trenberth, Research Compliance & Privacy Officer - HIPCO

An insightful presentation covering crucial aspects of HIPCO, in which we delve into departmental updates and address frequently asked questions, including those related to HIPAA/PHI and de-identification processes, preparatory to research activities, HST devices, electronic communication with research participants, best practices when working with international study partners, and guidance for compliant utilization of interpretation/translation services. This video introduces the latest informational documents on our website, provides a walk through of protocol template updates, and provides valuable contacts linking our department with research study teams. 

Contact trenb002@umn.edu with questions. 


Ethics and the Engaged Scholar

PRESENTED BY OFFICE FOR PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
February 29, 2024

Panelists:

  • School of Social Work Assistant Professor Saida Abdi, a 2022 Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center Research Agenda grant recipient who works on cultural adaptation of trauma systems for immigrant and refugee youth
  • Center for Urban and Regional Affairs Director of Community Based Research C. Terrence Anderson who supports faculty, staff, and students engaging in community-based research
  • School of Nursing Associate Professor Lauren Martin whose nationally known research on sex trafficking and the Minnesota Youth Sex Trading Project is supported by students in the Center for Community-Engaged Learning's Community Engaged Scholars Program
     

The Office for Public Engagement (OPE) hosted a panel discussion on "Ethics and the Engaged Scholar" as part of the University's Research Ethics Week to discuss ethical implications for research when working with community partners. The panel was be moderated by Vice Provost for Public Engagement Laurie Van Egeren.


Lessons Learned From Major Lab Incidents Throughout the Country

PRESENTED BY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH & SAFETY
February 29, 2024

Speaker: Adam Krajicek/Director/Department of Environmental Health & Safety/Health, Safety, & Risk Management/University of Minnesota

This presentation reviews a few major lab incidents at academic institutions throughout the country, including the University of Minnesota, highlighting lessons learned, and how researchers and principal investigators may apply these lessons to their research and lab environment.

Contact Adam Krajicek, krajicek@umn.edu, with questions.


Cultural Responsiveness is Fairness in Assessment Development

PRESENTED BY RESEARCH METHODOLOGY CONSULTING CENTER (RMCC) & IGDI LAB
February 29, 2024
Watch "Cultural Responsiveness is Fairness in Assessment Development"

Speakers: 

  • Kyle Nickodem, Director, Research Methodology Consulting Center
  • Alisha Wackerle-Hollman, Executive Director, IGDI Lab
  • Mohammed Abulela, Graduate Research Assistant, Research Methodology Consulting Center
  • Carlos Chavez, Graduate Research Assistant, IGDI Lab

Fairness has long been a concern in assessment development, including four chapters devoted to the topic in the first edition of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing in 1999. Over the last two decades, the dominant approach to achieve fairness has been to treat cultural context as a potential distraction which should be minimized on assessments. Scholarship over this same time frame, however, has argued that assessments not only can be culturally responsive, but doing so can enhance fairness. This presentation outlines how cultural responsiveness can be embedded throughout the assessment development process to promote fairness in assessment. Development of the Spanish and Hmong Individual Growth and Development Indicator (IGDI) assessments are highlighted as examples of the process in action.

Contact Kyle Nickodem, nicko013@umn.edu, with questions.


Navigating Ethics: AI Visuals in Research and Creative Scholarship

February 29, 2024
Watch the event: "Navigating Ethics: AI Visuals in Research and Creative Scholarship"

Panelists: 

  • Victor Okhoya, Research lab Director, Perkins & Will Architects;
  • Eugene Park, Associate Professor, Graphic Design, University of Minnesota;
  • Kyle Spence, Assistant Professor,  Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU);
  • Qianwen Wang,  Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota;
  • Dingliang Yang, Assistant Professor, Architecture, University of Minnesota

These panelists present and discuss emerging ethical issues in AI-generated design, data visualization, and interfaces, such as the amplification of societal biases, ownership, and licensure of co-created content with AI tools, and the use of deep learning models based on historical creative content from previous designers. Simon Colton's conditions for attributing creativity to a system – appreciation, imagination, and skill – serves as a framework for the discussion.

Contact Sarah Acosta, s-acosta@umn.edu, with questions.


Hot Topics in Research Ethics and Integrity   

PRESENTED BY THE RESEARCH & INNOVATION OFFICE
March 1, 2024
Watch this seminar: "Hot Topics in Research Ethics and Integrity"

Speakers: 

  • Kim Kirkpatrick, Associate Vice President for Research Infrastructure and Centers & Institutes
  • Ilana Cohen, IACUC Director
  • Danielle Rintala, Research Integrity and Compliance Director

This video captures a discussion of current research ethics and integrity challenges. AVP Kirkpatrick highlights the questionable data management practices that often lead into compliance and integrity issues with research and best practices for managing and storing data. Dr. Cohen covers how the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) reviews protocols with consideration of ethics at the core of their review process. Ms. Rintala discusses the hot topics in research integrity and strategies for developing/leading ethical research practices. 

Contact Danielle Rintala, rinta015@umn.edu, with questions.


Exploring the Ethical Landscape: AI in Research and Beyond

PRESENTED BY COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
March 1, 2024

Panelists: 

  • Mr. Alan Rozenshtein, Associate Professor, Law School
  • Dr. Gilad Lerman, Professor, School of Mathematics
  • Dr. Martin Michalowski, Associate Professor, School of Nursing
  • Dr. Joseph Konstan, Professor and Associate Dean for Research, College of Science and Engineering
  • Dr. Richard Landers, Professor, Department of Psychology
  • Dr. Sthitie Bom, Vice President, Seagate Technology

A compelling discussion on integrating ethics in AI applications, exploring how AI can become a dependable and valuable asset in education, research, and administrative processes. Perspectives from a diverse audience, including AI researchers, users, and policy specialists, to advance the ethical AI agenda were invited. In the second half, the focus shifts to the ethics of AI in research, covering topics such as paper and proposal writing, peer reviewing, and broader ethical considerations in research discovery. The aim was to explore how AI can enhance research productivity and strategies for regulating its use in research. 

Contact Catherine Zhao, qzhao@cs.umn.edu, with questions.
 


All About Data: What Research Teams Need to Know About Data Sharing Policies

PRESENTED BY THE HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION PROGRAM'S EDUCATION ADVISORY GROUP
March 14, 2024
Watch the "All About Data" presentation

Speakers: Representatives from Research Data Services, Human Research Protection Program

What do you really need to know about the NIH’s policy on data sharing as an investigator, coordinator, or as part of the research community? This session covers key components of the NIH data sharing policy and why it is important to understand the requirements based on your role. The session includes an interactive activity where attendees will learn about how data management and sharing plans intersect with protocols and other study materials like the consent form. The session also highlights nuances of other policies and the impact those policies have on data sharing.

Learning Objectives:

  • Overview of what the NIH policy means for you and in your role (investigators, coordinators, study team members).
  • Review and discuss mock data management and sharing plans
  • Understand other important aspects of NIH policies, institutional policies, and impacts on data (employment changes, where they may still have access or want access to data locally)

Contact Courtney Jarboe (cjarboe@umn.edu) with questions.