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 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 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 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 which 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 in the EU-funded LIBRA project. With nine other European Life Sciences Institutes, we collaborated in the project with the goal 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. Recently we have updated our Gender Equality Plan. The most recent version can be found here
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.
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 Transparancy Agreement on Animal Testing.
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Our infrastructure and buildings are being updated to incorporate energy saving measures, green roofs, automatic light switches, etc.. In our canteen we provide a wide range of non-meat products. We try to reduce the amount of waste we produce. Our employees are stimulated to use environmental friendly alternatives to commute.
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
- Spin-off activities originating from the Netherlands Cancer Institute
- Intellectual property, research material, and research collaborations with companies, and
- Ancillary work activities and consultancy (the Additional Activities Policy)
- Information security and data protection (based on NEN7510, ISO27001, and the GDPR)
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.
