Ethics and integrity underpin appropriate use of information.
The University expects all staff and students to demonstrate the highest standards of conduct in all their academic endeavours.
Everyone involved in any academic activity (including research, teaching, consultancy and outreach work, across all subject disciplines and fields of study) must follow the University's codes of practice and abide by the outcome of ethical review.
This includes staff, students, visiting or emeritus staff, associates, honorary or clinical contract holders, contractors and consultants.
The University's Code of practice and principles for good ethical governance sets out an ethical framework for the conduct of all academic activity under the University's auspices.
The key principle underpinning this framework is that of avoidance of harm:
This provides important context, in addition to the legal requirements of the Data Protection Act, for the need to protect the information we generate and handle, and for the considerations which need to be taken into account.
Where information is confidential (which includes sensitive, classified and personal information as defined in the Information Classification and Handling Scheme), or where it may potentially be subject to misuse, there is a risk of harm (as defined above) if that information is not kept securely and protected from unauthorised access.
In particular, you must have in place:
All academic activity which falls into this category must be submitted for review and formal approval via the appropriate departmental/subject-level ethics committee before the activity commences.
The University's Code of practice on research integrity sets out additional considerations for those conducting research.
Research integrity refers to high quality and robust practice across the full research process, from the planning and conduct of research to the dissemination and application of findings.
Besides the need for information security, there are two further key principles which relate to the handling of information:
Applies to anyone who writes and publishes.
Principles include:
Further information
Research integrity and ethics provides guidance and links to the relevant codes of practice.
Academic integrity provides guidance for anyone who writes and publishes.