The 2024 statement has been structured using the template developed by the UK Research and Integrity Office with the Research Integrity Concordat Signatories Group. This statement was approved by the Babraham Executive Committee (BEC) on 9th September 2025.
Advice & guidance
Dr Kai Michael Toellner is the senior member of staff responsible for overseeing research integrity and is the Institute’s first point of contact for anyone wanting more information.
Mr Simon Jones is the confidential liaison for whistle-blowers or any other person wishing to raise concerns about the integrity of research being conducted under the auspices of the 99ÈȾòÝÈÈ×îеØÖ·.
Policies and systems The Institute has in place a comprehensive overarching Research Integrity policy (based on grant awarding body, UK and worldwide research integrity standards) to foster and support integrity in research practices. The policy sets out the responsibilities for all researchers and makes clear the Institute expectations around mentoring, supervision, training and support (including wellbeing), data management, ethical conduct, open science and legal and ethical requirements for research outputs.
The Institute’s Research Integrity policy is underpinned by a suite of Institute policies supporting research integrity, including a Code of Conduct; Research Misconduct; Authorship; Whistleblowing; Equity, Diversity and Inclusion; Harassment and Bullying, Use of Animals in Research; Open Access Publishing; Research Data Management, and these are regularly reviewed and updated to reflect changing need. These are available to all staff on the Institute’s intranet with some policies available externally on the .
As part of the Institute’s continuous reflection on ways of working and to provided assurance that we have robust responses to major strategic, financial and operational risks, we undertake a rotation of internal audits of key business areas (audits completed in 2024/25 are detailed below).
Communications and engagement Research integrity is promoted and supported through several different mechanisms – at the individual research group level, through research leadership and at a community level through training events and seminars. The Institute’s Research Integrity section on the Institute’s intranet site covers: what research integrity is and Institute policies and expectations, available training, good research in practice, human research governance and ethics, and promotes observation of the ARRIVE guidelines in reporting research involving animals, in addition to collecting together relevant resources on all aspects of research integrity.
Biennial staff engagement surveys (which will next be run in January 2026) assess awareness of Institute policies and processes around whistleblowing and reporting suspected misconduct. Internal communication supports awareness raising of policy content and with the platform used to facilitate policy access and management. In 2024, following a culture consultation, a Staff Consultation and Communications Forum (SCCF) was established. The SCCF will provide a structured and supportive platform for dialogue between staff and the management of 99ÈȾòÝÈÈ×îеØÖ·, contributing to the promotion of a positive and inclusive workplace culture by allowing and enabling staff to contribute to discussions and decision-making on issues affecting their work, welfare and wellbeing, and development.
Culture, development and leadership The Institute’s five strategic initiatives of equity4success (the Institute’s equality, diversity and inclusivity initiative), Green Labs (the Institute’s sustainability scheme), Research Integrity, Technician Commitment and Wellbeing provide focused attention with the areas of their remit.
The strategic initiatives are overseen by steering groups which have decision making powers delegated from the Institute’s executive committee. Training relevant to research integrity is provided on an ongoing basis, with strong input from the Institute’s Bioinformatics training team and statisticians. Current relevant courses cover: statistics, biological big data, data analysis, peer review training (provided as part of the Institute’s Learning and Development programme), scientific figure design, research integrity: how to be a good scientist, use of OneNote as a laboratory notebook (the latter two being mandatory for all PhD students and scientific staff). All staff have access to the Institute’s Learning and Development Hub, with training provision tailored to specific cohorts of staff groups. Mandatory training is provided on challenging inappropriate behaviours (active bystander training), GDPR awareness, unconscious bias, dignity at work, and equality, diversity and inclusion.
Monitoring and reporting The Institute’s Research Integrity Steering Group (RISG) reports to the Babraham Executive Committee (BEC). RISG was chaired by the Associate Institute Director Dr Martin Turner in 2024 and subsequently by Professor Kai-Michael Toellner from 2025. The steering group includes the following roles as members:
The RISG has the remit to:
Principles, Practices and Policies: In financial year 2024/25, the Institute completed internal audits of the Institute’s processes and policies relating to Health and Safety, Stock Management, Procurement and Contract Management.
Throughout 2024 the Governance and Policy Office continued their rolling review of policies, in partnership with policy owners, to ensure that these adapt to changes at the Institute and in best practice:
New Policies commissioned were:
Relevant policies updated were:
The Institute also published a statement on the Institute's commitment to Open Science on its website.
A research integrity (RI) assurance review initiated in 2023 identified the following priority actions to ensure open, ethical, rigorous and reproducible research. These were progressed in 20204 to:
Communications and engagement
The Constitution and Terms of Reference for the Institute’s Staff Consultation and Communication Forum (SCCF) were approved by the Institute’s Executive Committee and staff representatives were appointed from across the Institute’s community.
The ReproducibiliTea journal club meetings continued in 2024.Impacts include authors of a pre-print that was reviewed by the journal club incorporating some of the group’s feedback into their revisions. By participating, individuals extend their skills in reproducibility best practices (including image data deposition, software versioning and statistics reporting), figure design and visual communication. The papers discussed by the ReproducibiliTea journal club are published on its blog, along with talk slides.
Culture, development and leadership
The Institute Culture Consultation (ICC) was concluded in March 2024, followed by senior sign off from the Institute’s Executive Committee and the Board of Trustees with the presentation of the resulting Roadmap for Team Science to staff in June 2024. The Roadmap consist of four workstreams: People, Communication, Technology and Community. We believe that making organisational improvements in the structures and processes of the Institute will help us improve how we work and interact with each other, including creating a culture of excellence, transparency and trust, which will bring benefits for research integrity.
The 2024 Award for Contributions to Research Integrity recognised the significant and long-term commitment by a member of staff to supporting research integrity, especially recognising that their knowledge and expertise were instrumental to embedding research integrity at the Institute, not least with undertaking reviews of research integrity to secure continued progress towards excellence in research integrity practices. With the agreement of the Research Integrity Steering Group, the award criteria for 2025 was widened to allow recognition of activities and achievements relevant to Open Science.
The Institute was successful in renewing its Silver Athena Swan Award, confirmed in December 2024. The award is the third consecutive Silver award received by the Institute, with the first award gained in 2015 and a renewal of this in 2018 under the expanded charter. In this time, the Institute’s efforts in this area have established a programme to overcome inequity in access to opportunities or due to biases and underrepresentation. The Institute's application and action plan for 2024-2028 are available to support transparency and the exchange of good practice.
Our implementation of work as a signatory to the Technician Commitment advanced with the completion of a self-assessment review and development of a new action plan for 2024-2027.
People
The following activities aim to embed awareness of research integrity, develop required skills and create a safe, positive and supportive working environment:
Peer review training for research staff was continued after a pilot training session delivered in 2023. The course provides a general introduction to peer review, covering the purpose of peer review, the role of the reviewer versus the role of the editor and the ethics and responsibilities of peer review. Five members of staff attended the training in 2024.
The Institute also supported training in good authorship training for early career researchers, and also for group leaders and heads of facilities.
22 members of staff participated in Active Bystander training, and 19 members of staff participated in Dignity at Work training.
Sustainability
The Institute’s participation in the SOS-UK Green Impact scheme continued, with a Platinum Award for the second year in a row following an SOS-UK Green Impact audit (view announcement). The Institute’s Green Labs strategic initiative led a cross-Campus group of 15 campus organisations, which completed over 1,400 sustainability actions collectively between June 2023 and June 2024: in the labs, around campus and through community engagement projects. New actions across the campus this year have included a lab glove recycling scheme, development of a Campus Sustainability Strategy, an LED lighting project, use of reusable lab consumables, and the launch of a new ride sharing app.
These actions come in addition to those already in place such as the conference travel policy which encourages train travel and carbon offsetting for essential flights, subsidised bus tickets for staff, and recycling schemes for lab media bottles and obsolete computer equipment.
Over the past year, the 99ÈȾòÝÈÈ×îеØÖ· has made further progress in embedding a culture of integrity, openness, and inclusivity across its research environment. The implementation of targeted training, policy updates, the ReproducibiliTea Journal Club and the conceptualisation of initiatives such as the Staff Consultation and Communication Forum and the Roadmap for Team Science have strengthened our collective commitment to rigorous and reproducible research. The expansion of the Research Integrity Award criteria to include Open Science reflects our evolving understanding of integrity as encompassing transparency, accessibility and collaboration.
Looking ahead, our focus will be on deepening engagement with research data management practices, reviewing and expanding the use of electronic laboratory notebooks, and supporting group leaders in fostering integrity at the team level. We will continue to refine our policies in response to emerging technologies and ethical challenges, including the responsible use of generative AI. Through ongoing dialogue, training and recognition, we aim to build a research culture that not only meets compliance standards but actively promotes excellence, trust and accountability.
Addressing research misconduct
The Institute’s Research Misconduct Policy is published on our website and describes the processes in place for managing an allegation of research misconduct against an individual or individuals working under the auspices of the 99ÈȾòÝÈÈ×îеØÖ·. The Policy describes processes for both initial and full investigations and refers to disciplinary action(s) that might follow from the investigations if it is determined that research misconduct has occurred and outlines the appeals process. Timescales are included to ensure timely investigation of allegations.
The Institute has a variety of forums to enable researchers to communicate their concerns in confidence, including procedures for reporting concerns of misconduct by a third-party employee at either Institute premises, or the premises of their employer. Such procedures can be found in the Institute’s Research Misconduct policy.
Awareness of how to express concerns and respond to poor behaviour is facilitated by Active Bystander training and Dignity at Work training, which are mandatory for all staff. In 2024 there were no allegations reported to the Institute or formal investigations of research misconduct in any of the following categories: