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Responsible Research

We believe that excellent science can only be of value when it is based on trust, transparency, fairness, and equal opportunity. In our institute, we want our research to be responsible, in all possible respects.

We realize that this is an ongoing process of learning and doing, which starts with fostering an open, collaborative, and critical research environment.

Our guiding principles are:

We adhere to the Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity

We have adopted the Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity as the guiding principle for our integrity policy.

We denounce all forms of bullying and harassment

We denounce all forms of bullying and harassment and have a helpdesk and procedure in place to tackle such issues. In our training program we include these aspects for supervisors as well for those who receive supervision.

We investigate any suspicion of scientific misconduct

We recognize that honesty in the conduct of academic research is fundamental to its integrity and creditability and to the maintenance of public trust in our institute. We have a procedure in place to investigate any suspicion of scientific misconduct. We organize regular courses about scientific integrity.

We actively promote inclusiveness and diversity

We want our institute to be an inclusive and diverse community, in which all of us can flourish. We have a Diversity and Inclusiveness Committee in place, which is composed of researchers and addresses many aspects that can contribute to a diverse and inclusive community. More news about our inclusiveness and diversity activities can be found here

The NKI collaborated with the EU-funded LIBRA project. With nine other European Life Sciences Institutes, we collaborated on the project intending to increase the representation and participation of women in leadership positions in life sciences. As part of that project, the NKI designed a tailored Gender Equality Plan. We have recently updated our Gender Equality Plan.

Read more about inclusiveness and diversity

We actively promote FAIR and Open Science

We want our research data to be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable. This requires good data management and data stewardship — before, during and after research.

We offer training and support for researchers making their data management plan. We stimulate open access publishing and place manuscripts in repositories. We have procedures in place for publishing data in public and controlled access data repositories. In this way, almost all of our data and results are accessible to anyone.

We have an Institutional Review Board for ethical and legal reviews of studies dealing with human material and data.

Within the Netherlands, we collaborate with many partners in the Health-RI Consortium and we are member of SURF - the collaborative organization for ICT in Dutch education and research. 

We conduct our animal research in a responsible manner

Learning to understand cancer, which is an extremely complex disease involving the entire body, requires research involving living animals – which, in our institute, are rodents. This is an important ethical dilemma.

We want to be open and transparent about our research involving living animals, and we conduct our research in the most responsible manner, with great care for the wellbeing of our animals. A commitment to reduce, refine and replace animal experiments, wherever possible, underpins all our work. In November 2021, the NKI signed the nation-wide Transparency Agreement on Animal Testing. 

Read more about our animal research

We promote sustainability

Our infrastructure and buildings are being updated to incorporate energy-saving measures, green roofs, automatic light switches, etc. In our company restaurant, we provide a wide range of non-meat products. We try to reduce the amount of waste we produce. Our employees are encouraged to use environmentally friendly alternatives to commute.

We are financially accountable

In our financial report, we provide public disclosure about our policy, activities, and finances. In our scientific annual report, we provide public disclosure about our research policy, activities and output.

We act in a responsible way concerning spin-offs and intellectual property

For United States of America Public Health Services funded projects we comply with the Financial Conflict of Interest policy as described in our policy document.

We have clear written regulations concerning

  1. Spin-off activities originating from the Netherlands Cancer Institute
  2. Intellectual property, research material, and research collaborations with companies, and
  3. Ancillary work activities and consultancy (the Additional Activities Policy)
  4. Information security and data protection (based on NEN7510, ISO27001, and the GDPR)

We want to learn and share best practices

We collaborate in organizations such as EU-LIFE to learn from other institutes, to get inspired and improve further.

We also contribute to national and international initiatives to promote better science in general. With our fellow EU-LIFE institutes, we advocate developing a responsible European Research Area.

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