Institutional Transformation: Transforming Cultures of Responsible Research through the Development of Ethics Expertise and Self-Efficacy among Faculty through Social Networks

鉴于STEM（科学、技术、工程和数学）研究的严重和广泛影响，STEM从业者以负责任的方式进行研究非常重要。然而，目前尚不清楚现有的RCR（负责任的研究行为）教育方法是否(1)帮助实践者在他们自己的研究中识别和解决伦理问题，(2)与跨学科范围的研究人员相关，或者(3)有助于发展更负责任、伦理协调的研究机构和环境。为了解决这些问题并培养负责任的研究文化，该项目将利用STEM教师的学科专业知识和社会网络，使他们能够在自己的研究领域参与伦理问题。这将导致项目更好地吸引更广泛的STEM从业者，从而有助于确保STEM研究的结果更好地服务于社会利益。该项目的目标是改变整个弗吉尼亚理工大学负责任研究的文化，开发一种基于研究的点对点RCR教育模式，最终可以在大学之外使用。为此，该项目包括(1)对STEM教师的伦理专业知识、自我效能和研究氛围进行研究；(2)制定教育干预措施，使研究人员能够在自己的工作中参与伦理问题。为了确保干预措施产生制度影响，该项目将对教师网络中的社会规范进行研究，利用这些结果确保对RCR的观点和实践产生最广泛的影响。这个项目在三个主要方面是新颖的：它(1)发展教师在伦理方面的专业知识，使他们能够主动识别和解决他们日常研究中出现的特定学科的伦理问题；(2)提高教师伦理自我效能感，使其能够自信地进行科研伦理沟通；(3)充分利用教师社会网络，确保负责任的研究型教育模式具有可扩展性、可持续性和可转移性。团队成员将利用他们在专业组织中的领导地位和与政府的关系来推广该项目的优点，并促进该项目在其他地方的采用。该项目还将鼓励教师，特别是那些参与我们干预项目的教师，通过跨机构研究合作和与行业的学术合作，与弗吉尼亚理工大学以外的网络分享这一模式。该项目由社会、行为和经济科学理事会、工程理事会和STEM教育理事会（STEM卓越公平部门的NSF ADVANCE计划）通过ER2计划共同资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Given the serious and wide-ranging implications of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) research, it is important that STEM practitioners conduct research in a responsible manner. However, is unclear whether existing approaches to RCR (responsible conduct of research) education (1) help practitioners to identify and address ethical issues in their own research, (2) are relevant to researchers across the disciplinary spectrum, or (3) contribute to the development of more responsible, ethically-attuned research institutions and environments. To address these issues and foster cultures of responsible research, this project will leverage the disciplinary expertise and social networks of STEM faculty to empower them to engage with ethical issues in their own research fields. It will result in programs that better engage and are more relevant to a broader range of STEM practitioners, thereby helping to ensure that the results of STEM research better serve social interests.The goal of this project is to transform cultures of responsible research throughout Virginia Tech, developing a research-based model of peer-to-peer RCR education that can ultimately be used beyond the university. To do so, this project consists in (1) conducting research on ethics expertise, self-efficacy, and research climates among STEM faculty and (2) developing educational interventions, empowering researchers to engage with ethical issues in their own work. To ensure interventions have an institutional impact, the project will conduct research on social norms in faculty networks, leveraging these results to ensure perspectives on and practices in RCR come to have the broadest possible impact. This project is novel in three main ways: it (1) develops faculty expertise in ethics, so they can proactively identity and address discipline-specific ethical issues that arise in their everyday research; (2) improves faculty self-efficacy in ethics, so they can confidently communicate about research ethics; (3) leverages faculty social networks, ensuring a model of responsible research education that is scalable, sustainable, and transferable. Team members will leverage their leadership positions in professional organizations and relationships in government to promote the merits and facilitate the adoption of this program elsewhere. The project will also encourage faculty, especially those participating in our intervention programs, to share this model with their networks outside Virginia Tech through cross-institutional research collaborations and academic engagement with industry.This project is jointly funded through the ER2 program by the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, the Directorate for Engineering, and the Directorate for STEM Education (NSF ADVANCE program in the Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.