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THE U.S. NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES’

INITIATIVES ON RESPONSIBLE SCIENCE

In the global scientific society, the actions of individuals have a great impact on the rest of the world.









Being an effective mentor and teacher to younger generations of scientists, reporting data in a transparent manner, managing laboratories safely and understanding dual use issues in science and technology are of great importance to the safety and advancement of the global research enterprise.


A sustainable approach to relevant capacity-building requires investment in key knowledge-producing institutions, such as universities. However, increasing scientific and technical knowledge and output is not enough. University faculty and researchers need the ability to communicate and share their knowledge with their students effectively. They also need to engage in international discussions to enhance the existing culture of responsible and professional conduct in the life sciences.

Working in partnership with scientists and scientific organizations in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) and South and Southeast Asia, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has successfully adapted a model originally developed to transform the teaching of biology in U.S. colleges and universities to help scientists and students holistically engage in scientific integrity and Responsible Conduct of Research topics.

The Educational Institutes on Responsible Science are a vehicle to create an international network of life sciences researchers and educators who can (1) use methods of adult teaching/pedagogy that promote improved student learning and (2) teach about responsible science and research integrity. Among other things, the Educational Institutes help scientists and students address concerns that knowledge and tools in biotechnology could be misused to cause harm either deliberately or inadvertently and frame these discussions as a matter of professional education and ethics.

The Educational Institutes, overseen by committees of subject matter and pedagogy experts and supported by a team of NAS staff, feature:

week calendar iconWeek-long residential programs to provide education about both content and pedagogy
team work iconIntensive and varied hands-on learning experiences, including teamwork and group presentations
learning iconEmphasis on active learning, with many options for use in varied educational settings
connect iconFollow-up to promote sustainability, including small implementation grants and reunion meetings to share challenges, experiences, and opportunities.

REGIONAL INSTITUTES

Regional Institutes endeavor to establish collaborations between faculty members in the same geographic region as well as in country. Each institute lasts 5-6 days and includes extensive group work to encourage the formation of beneficial partnerships and friendships. Institutes provide lodging, meals, and networking time to participants so that they may focus entirely on their work without distraction. These Institutes teach the concepts of responsible science while using active learning techniques, both of which are pillars of the Responsible Science Initiatives.

MENA 1
Aqaba, Jordan | September 2012

Educational Institute for Responsible Research on Infectious Diseases: Ensuring Safe Science in the 21st Century

A pilot Institute for the MENA region was held in Aqaba, Jordan in September 2012 in partnership with the Library of Alexandria and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) with faculty from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, and Yemen. A committee composed of US, UK, and MENA-region scientists and educators taught elements of active learning, scientific teaching and assessment strategies, and used case studies to elaborate on ethical issues from research with animals and human subjects, dual-use issues in life sciences research, biosafety concerns and best practices and the professionalism of the scientific community. The week concluded with group presentations on scientific misconduct, responsible authorship, collaborative science, mentor-trainee relationships and responsibilities, and safe laboratory practices.

Event Photos




infographic image of Jordan. 32 Participants total.  5 from Algeria, 15 from Egypt, 2 from Jordan, 2 from Libya, and 8 from Yemen.

MENA 1 Reunion

An integral part of establishing a network of scientists is to continue spreading knowledge and best practices after participants depart from the Institute. To facilitate this, small, competitively awarded grants were distributed after a proposal process to allow faculty to implement what they learned at the Institute in their own classrooms. All participants were invited to apply, individually or in teams. After the grants were distributed and workshops were held, the grantees reconvened at a reunion meeting to present their work and results.




13

Grant applications received
(Involved 45 co-investigators and applicants from within and outside of the Institute)

8

Grants issued
(totaling $12,000)

9

Participants at reunion

5

Reunion participants who became facilitators or committee members in subsequent Institutes

MENA 2
Trieste, Italy | May 2014

Educational Institute on Responsible Science

The second regional MENA Education Institute on Responsible Science was held in Trieste, Italy in partnership with the Library of Alexandria and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) with faculty from Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, and Yemen and observers from Iraq. A committee composed of US, UK, and MENA-region scientists and educators taught elements of active learning and scientific teaching, approaches to assessing and evaluating student learning, and used case studies (including the Cloning Scandal by Hwang Woo-Suk) to illuminate critical issues in the responsible conduct of research. The week concluded with group presentations on scientific misconduct, responsible authorship, collaborative science, and mentor-trainee relationships and responsibilities.

Event Photos





infographic image of Italy. 38 Participants total.  11 from Egypt,
2 from Iraq, 
7 from Lebanon, 
7 from Morocco, 
11 from Yemen

MENA 2 Reunion

An integral part of establishing a network of scientists is to continue spreading knowledge and best practices after participants depart from the Institute. To facilitate this, small, competitively awarded grants were distributed after a proposal process to allow faculty to implement what they learned at the Institute in their own classrooms. All participants were invited to apply, individually or in teams. After the grants were distributed and workshops were held, the grantees reconvened at a reunion meeting to present their work and results.

photo of Mena 2 reunion participants

22

Grant applications received
(Involved 62 co-investigators and applicants from within and outside of the Institute)

9

Grants issued
(totaling $13,000)

13

Participants at reunion

10

Reunion participants who became facilitators or committee members in subsequent Institutes

South/Southeast Asia
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – August 2013

Educational Institute on Responsible Science

The first regional Institute in Southeast Asia was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in partnership with Academy of Sciences Malaysia with faculty from India, Malaysia, and Pakistan. A committee composed of US, UK, and South/Southeast Asia-region scientists and educators taught elements of active learning and scientific teaching, approaches to assessing and evaluating student learning, and used case studies (including the Cloning Scandal by Hwang Woo-Suk) to illuminate critical issues in the responsible conduct of research. The week concluded with group presentations on scientific misconduct, responsible authorship, collaborative science, and mentor-trainee relationships and responsibilities.

Event Photos





infographic image of Malaysis. 19 Participants total.  7 from India,
4 from Malaysia,
8 from Pakistan

South/Southeast Asia Reunion

An integral part of establishing a network of scientists is to continue spreading knowledge and best practices after participants depart from the Institute. To facilitate this, small, competitively awarded grants were distributed after a proposal process to allow faculty to implement what they learned at the Institute in their own classrooms. All participants were invited to apply, individually or in teams. After the grants were distributed and workshops were held, the grantees reconvened at a reunion meeting to present their work and results.

photo of Institute in SE Asia Reunion reunion participants

15

Grant applications received
(Involved 35 co-investigators and applicants from within and outside of the Institute)

8

Grants issued
(totaling $12,000)

8

Participants at reunion

7

Reunion participants who became facilitators or committee members in subsequent Institutes

MENA 3
Istanbul, Turkey | May 2015

Educational Institute on Responsible Science

The third regional MENA Education Institute on Responsible Science was held in Istanbul, Turkey, and was attended by faculty from Iraq, Libya, Morocco, and Turkey. A committee composed of US, UK, and MENA-region scientists and educators taught elements of active learning and scientific teaching, approaches to assessing and evaluating student learning, and used case studies (including the Cloning Scandal by Hwang Woo-Suk and the articles on H5N1 transmissibility studies) to illuminate critical issues in the responsible conduct of research and what constitutes dual use research of concern. The week concluded with group presentations on scientific misconduct, plagiarism, responsible authorship, research with dual-use potential, and mentor-trainee relationships and responsibilities.

Event Photos




infographic image of Jordan. 32 Participants total.  8 from Iraq, 10 from Libya, 7 from Morocco, 4 from Turkey.

MENA 3 Reunion

An integral part of establishing a network of scientists is to continue spreading knowledge and best practices after participants depart from the Institute. To facilitate this, small, competitively awarded grants were distributed after a proposal process to allow faculty to implement what they learned at the Institute in their own classrooms. All participants were invited to apply, individually or in teams. After the grants were distributed and workshops were held, the grantees reconvened at a reunion meeting to present their work and results.




17

Grant applications received
(Involved 55 co-investigators and applicants from within and outside of the Institute)

12

Grants issued
(totaling $18,000)

13

Participants at reunion

4

Reunion participants who became facilitators or committee members in subsequent Institutes

CAPACITY-BUILDING ACTIVITIES


Building on the success of the regional Institutes, the U.S. National Academies have developed and deployed a number of activities to support the Regional Institutes and to create awareness for the program at universities and institutions that cannot support a week-long activity.


Teaching about Responsible Science, Biosafety, and Biosecurity: Resources in Arabic

A workshop was held in Morocco in June 2016 to announce the release of a number of responsible conduct of science and active learning resources that had been translated into Arabic, and were distributed free of charge to all attending and are available as free PDF downloads. The release was followed by a short, one-day workshop focusing on how to approach teaching the responsible conduct of science and team-based learning. This workshop was the first that was held in Morocco and focused on Moroccan outreach, although Moroccan scientists have been involved in the Educational Institutes since their inception. This workshop was conducted in partnership with the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco, and Hassan II Academy of Sciences and Technology.

43

Participants

1

Algeria

3

Egypt

5

Jordan

1

Lebanon

27

Morocco

6

Tunisia

Event Photos









Egypt

Due to continued engagement from Egyptian participants in the regional institutes and an interest from Egyptian higher education institutions in the responsible conduct of science, a proof-of-concept implementation of two back-to-back Educational Institutes in Egypt began in December 2014 and concluded in May 2016 in partnership with Ain Shams University and Egyptian faculty-alumni of the MENA regional institutes. These Institutes were identical to the regional Institutes in structure and content, but were composed of only Egyptian participants, and Egyptian alumni from the regional institutes served as committee members and facilitators. The NAS-appointed committee attended both Egypt 1 and Egypt 2, but only to provide comments and guidance. This proof-of-concept project showed that alumni from the Institutes can incorporate the knowledge and pedagogy they were taught in the academic process of their own countries and institutions, creating a sustainable system of knowledge dissemination.

drawing of Egypt

Egypt 1 and 2

The Egyptian Educational Institutes on Responsible Science were held in Ain El Sokhna, Egypt in March and July 2015, in partnership with Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Ain Shams University, Mansoura University, Cairo University and Damanhour University. During both Institutes, a committee composed of Egyptian scientists and educators presented on how people learn, assessment strategies, dual-use research, authorship and publication protocols, and case studies on issues regarding the responsible conduct of science and dual-use concerns. Both weeks concluded with group presentations on scientific misconduct, plagiarism, responsible authorship, research with dual-use potential, and mentor-trainee relationships and responsibilities.

Egypt 1 Participants: 25 total (all from Egypt)

  • 7 from Ain Shams University
  • 2 from Alexandria University
  • 3 from Cairo University
  • 3 from Damanhour University
  • 1 from Helwan University
  • 3 from Mansoura University
  • 2 from South Valley University
  • 2 from Tanta University
  • 1 from The National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Alexandria
  • 1 from The National Research Center in Cairo

Egypt 1 Photos

Egypt 2 Participants: 26 total (all from Egypt)

  • 6 from Ain Shams University
  • 2 from Alexandria University
  • 1 from Assiut University
  • 1 from Benha University
  • 1 from Beni-Suef University
  • 2 from Cairo University
  • 2 from Damanhour University
  • 1 from The Food Technology Research Institute
  • 1 from Helwan University
  • 1 from Mansoura University
  • 1 from Menoufia University
  • 1 from The National Research Center in Cairo
  • 1 from Port Said University
  • 1 from South Valley University
  • 1 from Tanta University
  • 1 from Zagazig University

Egypt 2 Photos

EGYPT 1 AND 2 REUNION

Cairo, Egypt – May 2016

In order to further promote sustainable activities in responsible science and active learning in Egypt, as well as to broaden the network of interested and engaged researchers, scientists, and educators, small, competitively awarded grants were distributed after a proposal process to allow faculty to implement what they learned at the Institute in their own classrooms. All participants were invited to apply, individually or in teams. After the grants were distributed and workshops were held, the grantees reconvened at a reunion meeting to present their work and results.




27

Grant applications received. 13 from Egypt 1 and 14 from Egypt 2
(Involved 105 co-investigators and applicants from within and outside of the Institute)

17

Grants issued
(totaling $12,700)

16

Participants at reunion

24

Participants who became facilitators or committee members in subsequent Institutes.


ALGERIA BIOETHICS CURRICULUM


Since 2013, a collaborative effort with Algerian educators and scientists-alumni of the MENA Institutes is focused on the development of a national bioethics curriculum for the Algerian higher education, combining bioethics-specific content with essential pedagogical elements for more effective and efficient education. Three workshops have been held with Algerian educators, scientists, and government officials to date, assisting with the kick-off and development of a national curriculum in bioethics.

  • 35 Algerian scientists, educators, and government officials have been involved to date

Event Photos



















MANGALORE WORKSHOP


A four-day workshop was held in Mangalore, India in May 2015 utilizing the majority of the educational material, pedagogical techniques, group work and networking opportunities provided by the regional Educational Institutes. No grants were distributed following this workshop, and the week-long educational module was compressed into four days. This workshop was held at the request of a scientist-alumni and involved 53 participants. Committee members discussed assessment techniques, mentor-trainee relationships and responsibilities, active learning approaches, and dual-use research. The four-day workshop ended with short topic group presentations by all participants.

  • 53 partipants

Event Photos








OUTREACH TO INTERESTED COMMUNITIES


In over seven years of work on assembling and conducting Educational Institutes in a number of regions worldwide, NAS staff have met with scientists and educators from a number of countries that are interested in the Educational Institutes but due to funding restrictions, do not have the capacity to host a full Educational Institute. Responding to these requests, NAS staff assembled a much shorter one-and-a-half day workshop that conveys the main ideas of the Institute, some critical portions of the content, and a few key active learning techniques to demonstrate to the participants what a full-fledged Institute offers. This exposure not only broadens the awareness of the responsible conduct of science and active learning techniques, but also cultivates interest in the participants, that they might return to their home institutions and research these topics on their own. In 2015, NAS staff held four of these introductory workshops: one in New Delhi, India; one in Yogyakarta, Indonesia; and two in Malaysia – one for the Academy of Sciences Malaysia and one for the University of Malaya.


image of India

New Delhi Workshop

To spread awareness of the educational institutes, as well as disseminate knowledge about the responsible conduct of science and the techniques of active learning, a much smaller workshop was held in New Delhi, India in May 2015, in partnership with the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute. Due to the shortened timeframe, pedagogical methods and active learning activities were edited to be more suited to a larger group of participants. This workshop in particular created significant interest in the program’s content and techniques, as committee members discussed how people learn, the Cloning Scandal by Hwang Woo-Suk and resulting modifications in scientific practice, assessment techniques, and the articles on H5N1 transmissibility studies.

Participants:

  • 65 participants attended this workshop

image of Indonesia

Yogyakarta Workshop

A one and a half day workshop, in the same vein as the workshop held in New Delhi, India, was held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia in partnership with The Indonesian Academy of Sciences. Due to the shortened timeframe, pedagogical methods and active learning activities were edited to be more suited to a larger group of participants. Indonesian Academy of Sciences staff were also in attendance at this workshop, fostering collaboration between the two Academies. Committee members discussed how people learn, assessment techniques, approaches to active learning, and lessons from the H5N1 transmissibility studies.

Participants:

  • 29 and 2 Indonesian Academy of Sciences staff

image of Malaysia

Academy of Sciences Malaysia Workshop

This workshop was held in partnership with Academy of Sciences Malaysia (the Malaysian Academy of Sciences) in August 2015. Committee members discussed how people learn, approaches to assessment, active learning techniques, and critical case studies regarding dual use research.

Participants:

  • 20 participants and 5 Malaysian facilitators (alumni from past Institutes)

Event Photos










University of Malaya Workshop

This workshop was held in partnership with the University of Malaya in August 2015. Committee members discussed how people learn, approaches to assessment, active learning techniques, and emphasized methods of implementation to adopt these practices going forward.

Participants:

  • 18 participants and 6 Malaysian facilitators (alumni from past Institutes)

Event Photos









BUILDING ON THE INSTITUTES


image of Egypt

Egyptian Leadership Institute

Following on the success of the pilot program that brought two country-specific Institutes to Egypt in 2015, and through the continued engagement and enthusiasm of both the Egyptian alumni-scientists and their home institutions, NAS staff wanted to provide the Egyptian scientists and researchers with a springboard beyond the Institutes. NAS staff came up with the idea to hold a Leadership Institute for the Egyptian researchers and scientists, that would assemble hand-picked high-performing and engaged participants from all of the Institutes and workshops that Egyptian researchers had attended. This four-day workshop worked to build on the established network of Egyptian academics and researchers and to provide training to enable participants to speak to and help integrate concepts of responsible research practices in their home institutions. Participants were able to converse with representatives from funding agencies about their work, conduct mock grant writing exercises including feedback from the US and UK-based committee members, and demonstrated techniques on the creation of a strategic plan that would allow the researchers to move forward in implementing workshops and activities about responsible science, involving active learning techniques, across Egypt. This Leadership Institute was envisioned as a launching pad for these scientists to move forward on their own, after NAS programs in the country ceased.

The Egyptian Leadership Institute was held immediately following the institutes’ reunion meeting, with 14 selected participants from MENA II, Egypt 1 and Egypt 2 who showed exceptional promise and commitment to the ideals of the Institutes. Over four days, participants, facilitators, and committee members worked together to develop a draft of a nationwide strategic initiative to integrate responsible science into higher education curriculum across Egypt. Through group work and collaborative brainstorming, four separate proposals were developed, the merits of each collaboratively discussed. The realization of an Egyptian RCR Society took place and a mission and vision were articulated.

  • 11 participants
  •   5  invited speakers (all of whom were involved in past institutes)
  •   8  committee members

Event Photos








Development of Curricula on Responsible Science

Cairo, Egypt | September 2017

The latest US NAS effort in Egypt focused on the development of materials and capacity to advance the implementation of a curriculum on responsible conduct of science for Egypt’s higher education sector. A nationwide request for proposals for the creation of curricular units opened in early 2017 while scientists and researchers were encouraged to apply in teams.

37 applications were received and reviewed by the NAS appointed committee, whose members included experts from Egypt, the United States and the United Kingdom. 8 of these applications were funded. Prior to a meeting scheduled for September 2017, all the teams had to develop the approach for the execution of their curricular unit, as well as the elements of the curriculum. At the meeting all grantees presented their work modeling active learning pedagogies and received feedback from the committee members and the other grantees.

  • 17 grantees
  •   9  committee members
  •   8  grantee teams

Event Photos










The programs in Egypt have been one of the hallmarks of the U.S. National Academies’ Initiatives on Responsible Science.

Click Here to Explore Our Work in Egypt




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