Successful implementation of ethics-related policy and guidance relies in a large part on the degree to which individual research organisations have built and maintained appropriate structures and support systems and cultivated a culture of good research practice and ethical reflection.
They should facilitate awareness of the benefits of potential knowledge exchange, impact activities and outputs of the research conducted by their researchers, alongside consideration of risk and other social and ethical implications of the research.
Research organisations have a responsibility to provide the necessary training, resources and support to researchers and research administrators to allow them to deliver the agreed objectives of UKRI-supported research and achieve maximum benefits from the research to research participants, the wider research effort and society. They also have a responsibility to provide access to training for members of research ethics committees that emphasises the importance of maximising the benefit of the research they review.
They also have a responsibility to provide researchers, research administrators and research ethics committee members with protocols and other resources to enable them to identify, manage and minimise risk and harm to all parties involved or affected by the research:
- the rights and dignity of individuals and groups should be respected
- wherever possible, participation should be voluntary and appropriately informed
- research and innovation should be conducted with integrity and transparency
- wherever possible, research organisations should replace, reduce and refine the use of animals in research and innovation and fully justify the use of animals with appropriate rigour in experimental design
- research and innovation should be carried out in the most environmentally sustainable way possible to achieve intended outcomes and impacts in a way that minimises negative environmental impacts
- lines of responsibility and accountability should be clearly defined and agreed with all participating researchers before beginning the research.