Abstract

When managing projects and writing reports, we often use material from previous projects or proposals for inspiration or to save time. However, do we all know where to draw the line when it comes to reusing material, even our own, and accrediting sources appropriately? Plagiarism is one of the most common forms of ethics violation. What would you do if someone in your project didn’t just cross the line, but long jumped over it like an Olympic athlete?

At the University of Southern Denmark, we recently managed a case of ethical misconduct in a deliverable from one of our partners, in the form of self-plagiarism. As project coordinators, we will discuss how we managed the misconduct at the project and EU level, and our strategy to not only submit a new and unique deliverable, but also a plan of how to better inform colleagues to prevent/avoid plagiarism in the future.

What would you do in a similar situation? In this interactive talk, we will present some case studies, and through audience participation, ask how others would handle this (be it plagiarism, fraud, fabrication, or distortion, and then discuss our solution and outcome. The goal is to not only learn and share best practices, but help prepare partners in preventing and responding to similar ethical issues in projects. We will then conclude the session with a summarised take away message and advice for project managers.