King’s College London has become a formal institutional member of the UK Reproducibility Network (UKRN), a network of UK universities collaborating to promote robust research practices, such as open research and reproducibility.

King’s is committed to embedding strategies for research improvement across all levels of the College, as we seek to create a positive research culture within our community that has at its core the principles of research integrity.

The UKRN is a peer-led consortium led by Professor Marcus Munafò and colleagues, created to ensure that the UK maintains its position and is seen as a centre for world-leading research. Through engagement with institutions and other stakeholders, including funding bodies, learned societies, publishers, and government, the UKRN aims to look at the factors that contribute to robust research, promote training activities, disseminate best practice, and bring about better coordination across the sector.

King’s Research Integrity Office has been working to enable our researchers to achieve research excellence. Research Integrity Champions are embedded within every Faculty, promoting the values of research integrity, and by September 2020 Research Integrity Advisors will be in place to provide a visible point of contact for researchers with queries about the conduct of their research.

The Research Integrity Office also supports self-organising, grassroots initiatives at King’s, including the voices of our research community as we develop training, policies and procedures. Dr Sam Westwood is King’s UKRN Local Network Lead, and has been instrumental in setting up the RIOT Science Club and the King’s Open Research Group Initiative.

Professor Tim Newton, Dean of Research Governance, Ethics and Integrity and King’s representative at the UKRN said: ‘I am delighted to have the opportunity to represent King’s College London at the UKRN. King’s has a long and distinguished history of academic excellence and commitment to ensuring the highest standards of academic practice. Joining the UKRN is one component of our ongoing strategy to support all those involved in research to maintain and develop that excellence.’

For further details about the Research Integrity Office and their work enabling and promoting research excellence across King’s, contact us at research-integrity@kcl.ac.uk.