The Global Research Ethics and Integrity Module (GREIM) is a joint project of members of Universitas 21, an international network of universities in 12 countries, which seeks to engage postgraduate students in considerations of ethical issues in a global context.

As a participant of the program, you will be faced with a series of case studies. You will have an opportunity to reflect on ‘best practice’ in each case, whilst deepening your understanding of how complex some of the ethical issues may be, and how often there seem to be no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers. Throughout the chapters, you will be encouraged to reflect on the responsibilities of student researchers, supervisors, universities or other institutions, and governments who develop policy and oversee regulation of ethical decisions. Throughout your work on the program, you should discuss issues with your own supervisor, particularly those that may be relevant to your own research.

The case studies are not only multidisciplinary – they will be regarded differently within many national and international contexts. Culture, religion and gender are just a few of the subjective lenses that mediate one’s responses to ethical questions. Although there are certain ethical mores to which most cultures and religions subscribe, the way these are interpreted in individual cases may vary widely. Your role as a researcher is to consider the variety of potential issues whilst trying to understand your own particular perspective within a global context. As you will see in the following case studies, this is sometimes a very difficult process, but it is essential that researchers rigorously pursue the basic principles of any ethical framework: intellectual honesty, respect for others, justice, human rights, beneficence and risk minimisation.

Even those whose research doesn’t require ethics approval will appreciate the opportunity to reflect on high-level ethical dilemmas facing the modern researcher. As you engage with the case studies, your knowledge of research ethics will deepen, as will your ability to reason ethically for the rest of your life. For those who do need to submit an ethics application, the U21 Global Research Ethics and Integrity Module offers invaluable insight into the issues considered by university ethics committees.

The GREIM offers a self-paced online introduction to the issues of research ethics and integrity to all Research Students enrolled at the UNSW. NOTE: you need a valid UniPass and ID to log in. Not sure what UniPass is?

Please, send us an e-mail if you have a log in problem.

Please, complete the evaluation form after you've finished the program. It should take 10-15 minutes. The information you provide will be used to evaluate this progran and improve its content and operation.