What are my responibilities

As an academic employee at UiB, you are responsible for ensuring that your research complies with relevant ethical standards and rules. This entails following UiB’s research ethics guidelines, subject-specific guidelines and the general research ethics guidelines drawn up by the National Research Ethics Committees. You must keep up-to-date with laws and regulations that apply to your research, such as data protection legislation. If you process personal data, the project must be registered in RETTE.  

It is important to be honest and transparent when reporting research results. You must also ensure that your research does not harm the participants or society, and that you treat your research participants with respect and in a responsible manner.  

It is also important to be aware of questionable research practices that may harm the integrity of the research and affect the public’s trust in the research. This may include manipulation of data, failure to credit those who have contributed to the research, failing to publish results or report ethical violations. In addition, you must be aware of any conflicts of interest that may influence the research, and manage these in an honest manner by being open about roles and interests. 

Regarding medical and health research, you must follow separate guidelines and receive preliminary approval from the Regional Committees for Medical and Health Research Ethics (REK) before the project starts. 

It is important to be honest when reporting results and to quote and refer to the work of others correctly, and to avoid cheating. You must also ensure that your work does not harm the participants or society, and that you treat research participants with respect and in a responsible manner. The academic supervisor is responsible for master’s theses that are also research projects. However, as a master’s student, you will be responsible for various tasks related to the implementation. Remember that as a student, you must follow your academic supervisor’s advice regarding research ethics, data protection issues and other matters. 

If you process personal data, the project must be registered in RETTE.  

As a PhD candidate at the University of Bergen (UiB), you are responsible for ensuring that your research complies with relevant ethical standards and rules. This entails following UiB’s research ethics guidelines, subject-specific guidelines and the general research ethics guidelines drawn up by the National Research Ethics Committees. You must keep up-to-date with laws and regulations that apply to your research, such as data protection legislation. If you process personal data, the project must be registered in RETTE.  

It is important to be honest and transparent when reporting research results. You must also ensure that your research does not harm the participants or society, and that you treat your research participants with respect and in a responsible manner. It is also important to be aware of questionable research practices that may harm the integrity of the research and affect the public’s trust in the research. This may include manipulation of data, failure to credit those who have contributed to the research, failing to publish results or report ethical violations. In addition, you must be aware of any conflicts of interest that may influence the research, and manage these in an honest manner by being open about roles and interests.  

The academic supervisor is also responsible for providing guidance on research ethics issues and data protection issues etc., and as a PhD candidate, you must follow the academic supervisor’s advice on such issues when working on the project.  

Regarding medical and health research, you must follow separate guidelines and receive preliminary approval from the Regional Committees for Medical and Health Research Ethics (REK) before the project starts. The academic supervisor is responsible for ensuring that applications for preliminary approval of the PhD project are submitted to REK, and for ensuring that the preliminary approval is in place before the project starts. 

As a project manager and academic supervisor, you are additionally responsible for ensuring that all parts of the project comply with ethical guidelines, and that the participants in the project are treated in a responsible manner. You are also responsible for ensuring that all students, candidates and researchers involved in the project follow ethical guidelines, laws and regulations, such as UiB’s system for processing personal data in research projects and student assignments, RETTE.   

As an academic supervisor, you are responsible for ensuring that those you supervise follow ethical guidelines, and that you help them deal with any ethical challenges that may arise during the research. In addition, you must be aware of any conflicts of interest that may influence the research, and manage these in an honest manner by being open about roles and interests. This may include funding from stakeholders or personal relationships with the participants involved in the research. It is also important that you keep up-to-date with laws and regulations that apply to research, such as the Personal Data Act. 

Regarding medical and health research, you must follow separate guidelines and receive preliminary approval from the Regional Committees for Medical and Health Research Ethics (REK) before the project starts. The academic supervisor for PhD candidates is responsible for ensuring that applications for preliminary approval of the PhD project are submitted to REK, and for ensuring that the preliminary approval is in place before the project starts. It is important that you take active responsibility for ensuring that the research you carry out complies with ethical principles, UiB’s guidelines and general research ethics guidelines, and that it is honest and transparent. 

You must also take responsibility for the research project as a whole and implement corrective measures if ethical violations or errors are discovered. As a project manager and academic supervisor, you should ensure open and transparent communication with research group members and PhD candidates, and a low threshold for reporting any ethical concerns. Read more about how to report suspected misconduct or other possible violations of research ethics guidelines.