Abstract

The notion that ethics, integrity and responsibility have crucial importance not only from the point of view of humanitarian values but that they have a direct connection with the innovation and economic success of the society, has reached us during the last 30 years. Research Ethics, Research Integrity, and Responsible Research and Innovation are terms that have emerged to our everyday work, and have gained increasing importance not only in the research vocabulary but also in everyday communication.
Research funding agencies have had a unique opportunity to demonstrate leadership in promoting high standards in supporting and ensuring a culture of research ethics and good practice. We can follow developments in European funding organizations over a long timeframe thanks to the umbrella organizations (European Science Foundation, Science Europe, and European Network of Research Integrity Offices), the EU framework programmes for research and innovation have no doubt remarkably influenced those developments.
At the turn of the century, the goal was that funding agencies should have the responsibility to set an example by the probity of their research evaluation processes, characterized by equity, integrity, confidentiality and transparency. About a decade later the codes and guidelines, as well as the procedures of allegations of research misconduct were in focus. Moreover, highlighting the role of joint responsibility also belongs to this period: “a concern for research integrity begins first of all with the responsibilities of the individual, but places obligations on research institutions, research funders, learned societies, academies, editors and research efforts supported by the private sector”. The involvement of various parties was also a keyword in the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity issued by the European Science Foundation (ESF) and All European Academies (ALLEA) in March 2011 and in its revised edition in 2017. Institutional responsibilities, scientific communication, review procedures, open access publishing, the use of repositories, and the use of social media and citizens’ involvement in research were added to the range of topics and responsibilities. In the guide published in 2019, ENRIO notes that research becoming more and more international or cross-border gives reason for a soft harmonization of principles and rules. The space for special local rules or guidelines is reduced. A solution is sought for the whistle-blower issue. At the same time as the Research Integrity, the concept of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) received a real boost. Compared to Research Integrity, the aim was to involve an even wider circle of participants: practitioners, policy makers, researchers, entrepreneurs and the society. Open science, gender equality, science education, ethics and good governance became the new keywords.
During the session, we would like to discuss which goals set at the time have been fulfilled, which have turned out to be the most difficult to reach, and how the developments that have taken place in general have affected the internal structure and values of organizations, and which new approaches can be expected in the near future.

Acknowledgments to the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Grant 872360.