Research Strategies, Policies and Ethics
This page collates a number of resources relating to Research and Knowledge Exchange policies, procedures and ethical review processes at the Academy.
Research Strategy
The Academy’s Research Strategy, developed in 2023 and reviewed annually, has seven strategic aims that underpin the administration, management, and governance of our institutional research environment:
- Improve the visibility and communication of research
- Increase capacity for research and the quality of research output
- Align research with institutional priorities of Belonging
- Maximize external research income
- Support and enable research impact
- Encourage collaboration in research
- Develop and formalise research governance
Research Integrity
An annual statement on research integrity is made publicly available in the interests of accountability to researchers, staff, students and the wider public.
Read the Academy’s current statement.
Read previous annual statements.
The Academy is a subscriber to the UK Research Integrity Office (UKRIO).
Our named member of staff who acts as the first point of contact for anyone wanting more information on matters of research integrity is Dr Cydonie Banting (Research Manager). Our named senior member of staff who oversees research integrity is Professor Timothy Jones, Deputy Principal and Director of Research.
Principles of open research underpin research integrity standards and professional frameworks.
The Open Access policy, which sits alongside the Academy’s Intellectual Property Policy, covers creative opportunities, study programmes, education and research whilst protecting its own and third parties’ intellectual property.
Ethical Review Process
Researchers have an obligation to ensure that their research is conducted with honesty, integrity, minimal risk and respect for other people and cultures. It is the responsibility of individual researchers to uphold good research practice, and to safeguard the rights of the participants in their research projects. It is the responsibility of organisations to provide support to ensure that research integrity and ethics protocols are met.
The Academy is committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards in all activity across the organisation involving our staff and/or students. It does this by way of ethical review, undertaken and overseen by the Ethics Committee.
Ethics Committee is guided by established legal and ethical frameworks and standards, including the Concordat to Support Research Integrity. It consults with external bodies such as Conservatoires UK (CUK) Ethics Committee and follows sector best practices shared by external organisations including UKRIO and the UK Committee on Research Integrity (UKCORI).
The Academy's Research Ethics Policy applies to all research involving human participants or personal data, or that involves risk by addressing highly sensitive topics, conducted by Academy researchers or by researchers using participants who are Academy students. All research that falls within this definition must be reviewed by the Ethics Committee, and research ethics approval obtained, before data gathering commences. Individual researchers if working alone, or the lead researcher of a research group, should apply for ethical review by reading the Research Integrity and Ethics Handbook, completing a Research Ethics Review Form (contained in the Handbook appendices) and submitting it to ethics@ram.ac.uk.
See also: