Academic Integrity & Ethics

The University of the West of Scotland is committed to promoting and upholding the highest quality academic and ethical standards in all scientific research activities. Governance and integrity are essential to ensure the rights of research participants are safeguarded. 

The University has developed research governance and ethics procedures which recognise the importance of addressing ethical matters (including publication ethics, general principles of data confidentiality and access), while supporting the achievement of its collective research objectives. 

Refer to our Research Ethics pages for further information on the institution's regulations. 

Contacts for Research Integrity

University’s Main Contact for Research Integrity
Prof Milan Radosavljevic
Vice-Principal of Research, Innovation & Engagement

University’s First Point of Contact for Research Integrity Information
Mrs Helen Kennedy

Integrity@uws.ac.uk
Tel: 0141 848 3746

The Annual Statement on Research Integrity is published here.

Contacts for Ethics

Academic Integrity and Ethics Committee: integrity@uws.ac.uk

School of Business and Creative Industries: Dr John Quinn, BCIethics@uws.ac.uk

School of Computing, Engineering and Physical Sciences: Dr John Hughes/Dr Daune West, CEPSethics@uws.ac.uk

School of Education and Social Sciences: Dr Lucy Troup/Dr Julie Clark, ess.ethics@uws.ac.uk

School of Health and Life Science: Dr W. McKay, healthandlifescienceethics@uws.ac.uk

Research Concordats  

The University of the West of Scotland adheres to a number of external concordats to ensure an environment of research excellence.  

• Governance of Good Research Conduct  
• Concordat to support Research Integrity
• Concordat on Open Research Data 

• Concordat on Openness on Animal Research in the UK 
• Concordat for Engaging the Public on Research 
• Concordat to support the Career Development of Researchers
• European Charter for Researchers and a Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers through the HR Excellence in Research Award 
• Nolan Principles 

• UKRI Statement of Expectations for Equality and Diversity  

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY CHARTER

UWS has signed up to the QAA Academic Integrity Charter. The Charter provides the baseline position for UWS to continue to develop our own high standards and outstanding quality procedures and practices to ensure every student’s qualification is genuine, verifiable and respected.

• QAA Academic Integrity Charter

Commitment to GDPR 

The Data Protection Code of Practice is in place to make sure everyone, staff and students, understands the way in which data protection applies to their roles within the University. It also makes sure we meet the requirements set out in Article 24(2) of the GDPR, which requires the University, as a data controller, to have in place an appropriate data protection policy to make sure we meet our obligations under the legislation. It also applies to any third parties who process data on behalf of UWS. 

Research Data Management  

Funding agencies and journals are increasingly requiring researchers to share, archive and plan for the management of their data.  Effective data management can help researchers to optimise their research output and increase the impact of their research through open access. Operational responsibility for effective data management lies with project leads/principal investigators (PIs). All individuals, including postgraduate and undergraduate students, have a responsibility for effective management of the data they create, process, or manage. 

University of the West of Scotland researchers who have produced research data associated with an existing or forthcoming publication, or which has potential use for other researchers, are invited to upload their dataset. For each published dataset, a DOI is issued by this service. For advice relating to research data management and detailed instructions on how to make a deposit on the UWS depository, please contact pure@uws.ac.uk.