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Working Group: Ethics and Research Integrity Policy in Responsible Research Assessment for Data and Artificial Intelligence (ERIP)

ERIP builds global expertise to address the transformative cross-disciplinary impact of data and AI on research culture (values, processes, structures, perceptions) supported by data and AI integrity for the ethical development of AI in research and institutional assessment framed in human-centric quantitative and qualitative metrics/indicators for data/AI research activities.

Upcoming Events

Updated 15 May 2025:

Upcoming Conference on Advancing Responsible Research Assessment in the Digital Space

On 2 June 2025 (09:00-17:00 CEST), CoARA-ERIP and WG OI4RRA, in collaboration with the European Commission and ENRIO, is organising a hybrid conference at the Palace of the Academies, Brussels, titled, ‘Advancing responsible research assessment systems in the digital space: A dialogue on ethics, integrity, and open infrastructures for research in the AI era’. 

The one-day conference will bring together the full spectrum of European stakeholders involved in research assessment—spanning the European Commission, research funding organisations (RFOs), research performing organisations (RPOs), infrastructure providers and developers, policy experts, and representatives from CoARA, ENRIO, OpenAIRE and affiliated initiatives—for an open dialogue on the responsible integration of artificial intelligence into science and research funding mechanisms. 

With increasing demand for accountability, reproducibility, and ethical oversight in the digital research ecosystem, the programme will explore themes of ethical compliance, data governance, epistemic integrity, open infrastructures, and methodological soundness in research evaluation practices in the age of AI. 

For more information on the objectives, session descriptions, and speakers, please see the Conference Background and the Agenda. 

Register for the conference now – you can choose to participate online or in-person in Brussels! 

Click here to register!

Recent Activities

Updated 31 March 2025:

A Discussion on Research Assessment in the Digital Environment

On 26 February, CoARA-ERIP, along with the Ethical Data Initiative, CODATA IDPC, the Research Data Alliance Artificial Intelligence and Data Visitation (AIDV) Working Group,  jointly organised the first webinar in the Research Assessment for Ethics, Data, and AI Discussion Series, titled, ‘Research Assessment in the Digital Environment’. Moderated by Kathryn Bailey, Professor in Research Governance Partnerships at the University of Exeter, the expert panel featured CoARA-ERIP Co-Chair, Dr Gitanjali Yadav (National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR)), Prof Evelun Chiyevo Garwe (Mahommed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P)) and Dr Thandiwe Hara (University of Oxford). The interactive session highlighted the importance of integrating research ethics into academic practices that utilise modern technologies, such as generative AI, addressing concerns about how these tools can influence not only academic outcomes but also societal engagement with science.

The wide-ranging discussion touched on topics around equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) and the digital divide, the importance of trust and transparency in AI-augmented research assessment, and the need for reform efforts to keep up with evolving technologies.

Click here to read more about the webinar and the discussion series.

Click here to learn more about the discussion series!

Contact Us!

ERIP has actively recruited European and non-European member institutions to join CoARA since October 2023. ERIP engages a broad global community, from Brussels to Beijing to Washington, DC, with all continents and many countries already represented.

Interested in joining the WG ERIP or have an inquiry? Please get in touch with the contacts below or follow us on social media to stay up to date on all WG ERIP activities!

Francis P. Crawley, The Good Clinical Practice Alliance (GCPA), fpc@gcpalliance.org Follow ERIP on LinkedIn! Join the ERIP LinkedIn Group!

Mission

ERIP’s mission is to develop policy, guidance, and tools for advancing research assessment that promote the role of, and define the ethical and integrity characteristics of, a responsible culture for the assessment of data and AI in research, fostering responsibility, transparency, and societal benefit.

Recent Events

Updated 31 March 2025:

  • Webinar series: The Impact of Data and AI on Research Culture
    • The second webinar in the Research Assessment for Ethics, Data, and AI discussion series will take place on 23 April 2025 at 12h-13h30 CET.
    • Titled, ‘The Impact of Data and AI on Research Culture’, the webinar will address the ethical considerations and impact of the increasing integration of data-driven technologies into research practices. An interdisciplinary panel of experts will debate issues such as data privacy, consent, and how to mitigate potential biases in AI algorithms. Details on the panellists will be shared in the coming weeks.
    • Please click here to find out more!
  • 14-18 July 2025 (Universidade NOVA de Lisboa [NOVA FCSH], Lisbon, Portugal). ERIP will participate with ELDAH, CLIC (CLARIN-ERIC), UK/IE DHA PeTRA CIG, CESSDA, EHRI, and CoARA-ERIP at the DARIAH-EU Conference on `Foundations for citizen’s trust and access: developing EU standards for the use of AI in digital publications of the arts, humanities, and social sciences
  • 18-21 June 2025 (Yenepova [Deemed to be University], Mangaluru, India). ERIP will participate in a 2-day workshop on `AI in Health-related Research and Scientific Publications: Digital Technologies, Ethics, and Research Integrity’.
Click here to learn more about the webinar series!

Ethics and integrity for AI in research

How can we promote the ethical use of AI? How might AI be employed to advance fundamental values and committments in science-related research and communication? And how can research practices in this new digital environment be assessed?

A high-level, joint webinar was held on Tuesday 10 September, 14-15:30 CET to address these questions, co-organised by ERIP along with ALLEA and the EU Scientific Advice Mechanism.

The webinar will be moderated by Nausikaä El-Mecky, Professor in History of Art & Visual Culture at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona with the following speakers:

  • Maura Hiney, ALLEA Permanent Working Group on Science & Ethics (chair)
  • Francis P. Crawley, CoARA Working Group ERIP (co-chair & coordinator)
  • Barbara Prainsack, Chair of the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies
  • Karen Yeung, Professor, University of Birmingham 
Watch the recording here!

Additional Resources

CoARA Working Group ERIP Launch Meeting Recording

Affiliated organisations

  • European Commission DG RTG ERIS, Europe
  • ALLEA: All European Academies: The European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities, Europe
  • Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
  • KU Leuven, Belgium
  • Leiden University, The Netherlands
  • The European Council for Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (EuroDoc), Europe
  • Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) [Spanish National Research Council], Spain
  • Federation of Finnish Learned Societies (TSV), Finland
  • Research Data Alliance (RDA) Europe AISBL, Europe
  • Research Data Alliance (RDA) International, Global
  • CODATA, Global
  • TOBB University of Economics & Technology, Turkey
  • Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Portugal
  • Yenepoya (deemed to be University), India
  • Columbia University Global Health Research Center of Central Asia, Kazakhstan
  • Good Clinical Practice Alliance – Europe (GCPA), Europe

Key Objectives & Implementation

ERIP’s aim is to:

  1. Develop ethics and research integrity guidance for research assessment involving data and AI;
  2. Promote responsible data and AI practices by advocating for responsible assessment practices that prioritize integrity, responsibility, and societal benefit, while mitigating the potential risks and harms associated with data and AI-driven research;
  3. Foster stakeholder engagement through facilitated dialogue and collaboration among researchers, policymakers, funding agencies, and other actors to ensure diverse perspectives in the development and implementation of ethical research assessment policies;
  4. Provide a toolkit of educational resources to raise awareness and help implement best practices in research assessment for data and AI; and
  5. Engage in outreach to shape policy and institutional change, promoting a culture of responsible data and AI research.

ERIP engages the following three focal points in its deliverables:

  1. Methods and tools to ensure the research ethics and integrity of scientific outputs with the advancing use of data and the impact of AI;
  2. Methods and tools to evaluate digital contributions to science/knowledge in research program and assessment procedures; and
  3. Innovative methodologies for employing data ecosystems and AI models for research assessment in digital environments.

ERIP is designed as a flexible community-based working group structure to accommodate the diverse needs, expertise, and perspectives of members, allowing for fair representation and meaningful contributions across time zones and adaptive to the workloads of the experts. The outputs are constructed on the basis of open and transparent inter-institutional, inter-actor, cross-cultural, and multi-regional research and discussion.

Activity Archive

Updated on 31 March 2025
  • The ERIP co-chairs have met approximately 12 times since the submission of its final proposal on 9 November 2023, the acceptance of the working group by the CoARA Steering Board on 6 February and the Launch Meeting on 20 March. Work focused on the organizational structure, objectives, workstreams, and initiating the working group.
  • ERIP co-chairs attended the CoARA General Assembly on 15 December 2023, where ERIP was briefly announced.
  • ERIP was presented during the webinar on ‘How Bibliometrics and University Rankings Reward Unreliable Science‘ organized by Dr. Chiedozie Godan Ike, ERIP Co-chair and Head, Office of Research Integrity and Compliance, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Nigeria; 20 December 2023.
  • ERIP co-chairs participated in the survey of the CoARA Working Group on Reforming Academic Career Assessment in early January 2024.
  • ERIP was presented by Professor Gitanjali Yadav (ERIP Co-chair) during India’s National Conclave on ‘AI and Ethics: Perspectives from Industry and Academia’, 20 February 2024. See the YouTube recording.
  • CoARA ERIP held its Launch Meeting on Wednesday 20 March 2024, 12:00 noon to 14:00 CET (Brussels time) as a hybrid meeting (in-person and on Zoom) at the Royal Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts in Brussels. The meeting was facilitated by ALLEA and ENRIO. The meeting had 434 registrations. Zoom reported a total of 346 participants. We observed approximately 180 participants online at any one time. Approximately 20 participants joined in person at The Royal Academy. Here is the link to the YouTube CoARA-ERIP Launch Meeting.
  • ERIP was presented at the Ethical Data Initiative (EDI)’s Multi-stakeholder Workshop on Ethical Data in the Age of XAI at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) Think Tank in Munich on 9-10 April 2024.
  • ERIP was presented at the ‘Workshop on open data policies, metrics and governance’ (in person), Chinese Academy of Sciences; Beijing; Monday 22 April 2024.
  • ERIP participated in the United Nations University 1st AI Conference and contribute to the founding of the UNU AI Network; Macau; Thursday 25 April 2024
  • ERIP participated in the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) ‘Workshop on TinyML for Sustainable Development’, Macau, 27 April 2024
  • ERIP contributed to a ‘Workshop on the regulation of biodata’; Shenzhen; Saturday 28 April 2024
  • ERIP was presented at the ENRIO 2024 Annual Conference at the Royal Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts in Brussels on 15 May 2024.
  • ERIP held a Working Session at the Research Data Alliance (RDA)’s 22nd Plenary Meeting: ‘Research assessment and science integrity: A global approach with local impact for research policy and the development of digital tools’; Virtual, 14-23 May 2024.
  • ERIP held a virtual side event alongside the publication of a science-policy brief contribution to the UN Interagency Task Team on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals (IATT) at the Ninth Annual United Nation’s Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs (UN 2024 STI Forum); 9-10 May 2024; UN Headquarters in New York. ERIP also contributes a science-policy brief for publication with other policy briefs from the Forum.
  • ERIP held a side event at the 8th WCRI 2024, June 2-5, 2024, in Athens, where members of the working group attending the conference met in person.
  • ERIP was presented during the AI and Climate Expert Meeting at the United Nations University (UNU EHS) in Bonn on 1-2 July 2024
  • 16 July 2024 (Munich): International AI and Human Rights Summit 
  • 23-25 July 2024 online / 29-31 July in person (UCLA, Los Angeles): Force 11 FSCI 2024: FSCI 2024: Increasing Transparency, Integrity, and Trust in Research Course: Good governance for AI in scientific publications: Developing policy for reliability, ethics, and integrity. Parallel courses were also held in New Delhi and Beijing. 
  • ERIP participated in the EOSC OpenAIRE Open Consultation: Crafting a vision for European Repositories on 24 August 2024.
  • CoARA’s Message Reaches India: On 2 September, WG ERIP Co-Chair, Gitanjali Yadav, joined a panel, organized by India’s National Institute of Immunology, to discuss the country’s new BioE3 (Biotechnology for Economy, Environment and Employment) policy, and the impact of AI on this sector.  Watch the recording here!
  • “Ethics and Integrity for AI in Research” Webinar: On 10 September, Co-Chair and Coordinator, Francis P Crawley, participated in a panel organised by the Scientific Advice Mechanism, CoARA, and ALLEA that addressed the question of how AI could be used ethically in science-related research and the evaluation of such practices. Watch the recording of the lively discussion here!
  • Questionnaire on digital tools for research assessment: CoARA-ERIP will be developing policy and tools for research assessment in the digital environment. We are interested to hear from the CoARA membership their ideas and suggestions on how this digital environment might be created as well as how we can cooperate across the community. Please click here for a link to the questionnaire. It takes only five minutes to complete. 
  • The ENRIO (European Network of Research Integrity Offices) with host its Autumn Meeting on 12-13 September 2024 in Prague.
  • CoARA-ERIP next meeting: On Thursday 19 September at 16:00-17:30 CEST (Brussels time) (14:00-15:30 UTC), CoARA’s Working Group on ‘Ethics and Research Integrity Policy in Responsible Research Assessment for Data and Artificial Intelligence (ERIP)’ will host its next meeting. If you have expertise or interest in this area of research assessment, you can sign up here to join the CoARA-ERIP working group.
  • Targeting Early Career Researchers: On 10 October, co-chairs, Francis P Crawley and Mara de Sousa Freitas, took part in a panel discussion, titled, ‘Research Assessment & Creativity in Research’, aimed at Early Career Researchers (ECRs). This was part of the (In)Credible Research Conference, organsied by Charité– Universitätsmedizin Berlin and a dedicated group of ECRs, and graphical recordings of the conference will be available soon.
  • 14th ERION EARMA Thematic Group event – Artificial Intelligence and Ethics, the Big Wave: On 30 October, WG ERIP Co-Chair, Mara de Sousa Freitas, spoke about AI and ethics at an event organised by the Ethics and Research Integrity Officer Network (ERION) within the European Association of Research Managers and Administrators (EARMA). Participants included research managers, policy officers, ethicists, researchers, publishers and the Head of the Research Ethics and Integrity Sector, European Commission (EC), DG Research & Innovation.
  • The Ethical Data Discussion Series: CoARA-ERIP member, Suchith Anand, who is part of the Ethical Data Initiative, is consulting the Working Group on topics for the Ethical Data Discussion Series. The webinar series explores the “ethical considerations surrounding digital technologies, data collection, and data-driven research” – thereby intersecting with ERIP’s expertise and outreach objectives. If you have ideas for topics/ideas/questions you would like to see debated on the Ethical Data Discussion Series, please email Maria Ronald.
  • 12-13 September 2024 (Prague, Czech Republic). The ENRIO (European Network of Research Integrity Offices) Autumn Meeting 2024.
  • 30 October 2024 (Barcelona, Spain). ERION EARMA Thematic Group event titled `Artificial Intelligence and Ethics, the Big Wave’.
  • 13 November 2024 (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia) ERIP co-organised `An international workshop on ethics and innovation policy for research assessment: Best practices for data and AI’. Link to the recording (Passcode: qZ^b#7$7).
  • 26-28 November 2024 (Algiers, Algeria) Presentation of ERIP to the `Annual Meeting of African Science Academies (AMASA 2024).
    • Together with the TUM-Exeter University’s `Ethical Data Initiative (EDI)’, CoARA-ERIP, CODATA IDPC, and EOSC-Future/RDA AIDV-WG are co-organizing a webinar series on `Research Assessment for Ethics, Data, and AI’. Follow CoARA-ERIP on its LinkedIn Community Page to stay posted on the webinar series.  The first two webinars have been planned as follows:
      • Research Assessment in the Digital Environment: Wednesday 26 February 2025; 11:00 to 12:00 noon UTC
      • The Impact of Data and AI on Research Culture: Wednesday 23 April 2025; 11:00 to 12:00 noon UTC
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