INED has both an Ethics Committee and an internal scientific integrity contact person to address questions related to scientific and professional integrity.
Professional ethics
Scientific integrity contact person
A 2017 Ministry of Higher Education and Research memo directs research institutions to appoint a scientific integrity contact person. His or her main official duties are to:
oversee implementation of a scientific integrity policy at the given institution,
receive requests for information on professional ethics principles and advise on compliance,
establish mediation procedures for handling research activity-related conflicts that have been called to their attention,
receive allegations of presumed non-compliance with integrity principles,
obtain information on and directly examine evidence on professional ethics issues brought to their attention.
Scientific integrity contact persons in France belong to a national peer network, which offers a means of sharing experiences and responses with other French higher learning and research institutions.
In addition to these main missions and duties, INED’s scientific integrity contact person is responsible for determining the best operating mode for the Institute in this regard, in collaboration with INED actors involved with the subject. At a more general level, he or she is charge of implementing a scientific integrity policy at INED.
INED Ethics Committee
Given the emergence of complex ethical questions in the areas of research practices and research support service practices, INED established its own independent, consultative Ethics Committee in 2013.
The Ethics Committee’s duties are to:
- formulate opinions on research projects or project components that have been submitted to them and that conceivably raise ethics questions,
- develop doctrine on ethics-related aspects of research or research-related activities,
- shed light on collective and individual attitudes and recommend certain behaviors.
The Committee respects gender parity and is composed of a minimum ten members, five of them INED staff members and five external members. The latter set, termed intuitu personae, are figures renowned for their professional or personal interest in ethics questions.
Combating inequalities
Equality between men and women
Gender equality is a firm priority at INED. Our equality contact person in this area is responsible for developing actions to reduce position-related inequalities and promote equitable professional culture. Her or his work is organized around the following Institute priorities: equal attention to men’s and women’s careers, promoting gender research across all disciplines and fields; developing gender equality awareness in everyday work situations, and promoting female researcher figures with the younger generation.
Racism and antisemitism
Although freedom of opinion and expression are fundamental values in a research institute such as INED, racism is not a matter of freedom of expression. Nothing can justify inflicting racist and/or antisemitic comments or acts on INED employees, including remarks masquerading as “humor.”
The role of the contact person in charge of this issue at INED is to listen and signal any unacceptable behavior. He or she may be called in to rule on any preoccupying incident or situation, and one of their duties is to determine means of raising personnel awareness on the issue so as to strengthen cohesion and mutual respect and combat discrimination.
Disability
The disability contact person is the main interlocutor for disabled permanent public employees throughout their professional trajectories. His or her mission was formulated in a French law (passed August 6, 2019) designed to transform the country’s public services. The law recognizes the right of all permanent public service employees to consult a disability contact person.
INED’s disability contact person orients, coordinates, and follows up on all actions required to receive disabled persons at INED, adapt their work posts, integrate and maintain them in employment. She works closely with the Institute’s HR department, the Director’s office, aides, and occupational physician.
Risk prevention
One contact person in charge of professional ethics and whistle-blowing
In 2022, INED appointed a single contact person to deal with professional ethics issues and whistle-blowing on observed or suspected professional ethics problems or abuses.
In the first of these capacities, the contact person is called upon to advise INED’s permanent public employees on their professional obligations of neutrality, compliance with the secular character of public life in France, compliance with professional confidentiality, and duty to avoid and prevent any kind of conflict of interest. In sum, the professional ethics officer intervenes independently and confidentially to prevent or minimize the risk of such issues arising.
In the second capacity, this contact person receive alerts on serious abuses: crimes, law or regulation violations, dissimulating such crimes or violations, and any situation likely to threaten the general interest, such as a health or environmental risk. He or she is in charge of receiving, obtaining additional information on and examining evidence in support of such alerts, transmitting alerts to the relevant authorities (depending on the case), and protecting whistleblowers.
Our professional ethics alert contact person may be reached at: referent-alerte@ined.fr.
Prevention of workplace risk
To protect the health of our employees against risks of psycho-social problems in the workplace, INED regularly analyzes this occupational risk and develops prevention plans. We have also established arrangements for permanent public personnel to signal any observed risk or inappropriate behavior (with the requisite degree of confidentiality ensured).
Security, defense, and radicalization prevention
To protect the Institute and our personal from any risk of intrusion, foreign or terrorist interference, and radicalization, INED has a public service employee in charge of safety, defense, and radicalization prevention, who is assisted by a specialist in questions of digital security.
