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)研究的严重和广泛的影响，STEM从业者以负责任的方式进行研究是很重要的。然而，目前尚不清楚RCR(负责任的研究行为)教育的现有方法(1)是否帮助从业者发现和解决他们自己研究中的伦理问题，(2)是否与各学科的研究人员相关，或(3)是否有助于发展更负责任、更符合伦理的研究机构和环境。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教员的学科专业知识和社交网络，使他们能够参与到自己研究领域的伦理问题中。它将导致项目更好地参与并与更广泛的STEM从业者相关，从而帮助确保STEM研究成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的研究文化，开发一种基于研究的对等RCR教育模式，最终可以在大学以外的地方使用。为此，该项目包括(1)在STEM教职员工中开展关于伦理专业知识、自我效能和研究氛围的研究，(2)开发教育干预措施，使研究人员能够在自己的工作中参与伦理问题。为了确保干预措施具有制度性影响，该项目将对教师网络中的社会规范进行研究，利用这些结果来确保RCR的观点和做法产生最广泛的影响。该项目在三个主要方面是新颖的：(1)发展教师在伦理方面的专业知识，以便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)提高教师在伦理方面的自我效能感，以便他们能够自信地就研究伦理进行交流；(3)利用教师的社交网络，确保可扩展、可持续和可转移的负责任的研究教育模式。团队成员将利用他们在专业组织中的领导地位和在政府中的关系来宣传该计划的优点，并促进该计划在其他地方的采用。该项目还将鼓励教师，特别是那些参与我们干预计划的教师，通过跨机构的研究合作和与业界的学术参与，与他们在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、行为和经济科学局、工程局和STEM教育局(NSF卓越公平部的先行计划)通过ER2计划共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.