Initiative 5.1. Integrity and Ethics in Research

What is it about?

In 2024, an amendment to the Higher Education Quality Assurance Act brought a unified definition of integrity in research, teaching, and artistic practice for the higher education sector. Embedding integrity within the quality assurance framework has boosted its prominence across Austrian research and academia.

Ongoing globalisation and technological shifts create new ethical challenges: Although research is increasingly international and interdisciplinary, standards for research integrity remain fragmented within countries. Austria aims to coordinate the research integrity and ethics landscapes to secure sustainable scientific progress and maintain public trust.

Goals & Key Activities

• Active participation in the creation of a European-level platform to coordinate activities to protect and improve research ethics and integrity;
• Comprehensive information on all existing research ethics & integrity (RE&RI) structures and regulations;
• Development of coordinated training programmes;
• Coordination structure for Austria’s research ethics landscape;
• Structured dialogue with all institutions engaged in research in Austria.

Who is involved?

• Austrian Federal Ministry of Women, Science and Research (BMFWF)
• Austrian Agency for Research Integrity (OeAWI)
• Higher education institutions
• Non-university research organisations
• Research funding bodies.

Expected impact

• Increased transparency and credibility of Austrian research;
• Stronger coordination of research ethics and integrity structures nationally;
• Better preparedness for ethical and integrity challenges posed by globalisation and technological change.