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Good Research Practice

As institutions dedicated to research, education, and the advancement of early-career researchers, universities are charged with safeguarding high academic and ethical standards. Freie Universität Berlin chooses to commit to these standards, viewing this commitment both as a duty and as an ideal inherent in its very foundations. Its official seal carries the motto “Veritas, Iustitia, Libertas.” Honesty and integrity, fairness and trust are the principles that underpin scientific and scholarly work at Freie Universität.

The Executive Board of the university approved its new “Statute for Safeguarding Good Scientific Practice” (“GWP-Satzung”) in February 2024.

This statute incorporates the guidelines of the DFG Code of Conduct for Good Research Practice and implements them as agreed upon in legally binding documents. In addition, Freie Universität set up a Coordination Office for Research Integrity.

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Information and advice on good research practice at Freie Universität Berlin

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Getting It Right from the Start

Britta Anstötz graduated with a degree in nanostructure science and went on to complete a doctorate in materials science. Today, she coordinates the Ultrafast Spin Dynamics graduate program at Freie Universität’s Department of Physics. She recently signed up for a training program to learn how to help instill good scientific practices in doctoral researchers.

Image Credit: Marion Kuka
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The Moderator

He understands his new role as “moderating, not pronouncing judgments.” Physicist Joachim Heberle, who was appointed as a German Research Ombudsman (Ombudsman für die Wissenschaft) by the German Research Foundation in 2014, has been selected for the recently established position of Central Ombudsperson for Good Scientific Practice by the Executive Board at Freie Universität Berlin.

Image Credit: David Ausserhofer
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“It’s All a Question of Attitude”

What guiding principles do researchers follow? How do they view themselves within a wider context, and what ethical criteria do they rely on? Freie Universität Berlin’s vice president with special responsibility for research, Marianne Braig, talks to campus.leben about integrity and transparency. She explains why the principles of good practice apply to everyone working in academia – from students fresh out of high school right up to senior professors. In this interview, we discuss trust, communication culture, and the responsibility of science to society.

Image Credit: Bernd Wannenmacher