Undoubtedly the outlier of this podcast series. While perhaps not at the heart of the concept of research integrity, the choice to highlight humanity in doing science is deliberate. After all, a research integrity culture cannot grow and flourish without vulnerability. Without questioning ourselves, our behaviour, our work, the scientific enterprise. Without addressing those issues that make us push (scientific) boundaries and at the same time, run into (personal) limits.

This episode is an intimate conversation about real people, who are also real scientists. We welcome:  Charlotte De Backer, Full Professor of communication sciences at the University of Antwerp, specialized in interpersonal communication and Ernst Koster, full Professor in Clinical Psychology affiliated to the dept. of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology at Ghent University. 

In this episode, we cover

• The personal case of Charlotte.
• Pitfalls of the research profession (academic environment) and the internal mechanisms (personality traits) of researchers, backed up by theory and scientific proof.
• How these in- and external mechanisms influence our way of working when it comes to research integrity and how we can foster research integrity (more).
• How these mechanisms evolved over time and how they can/should evolve in the future (alternatives).
• Specific advice from the experts.

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This podcast series complements the online training tool 'Mind the GAP, training on Good Academic Practices'. Mind the GAP is an English-language training tool for all researchers and those involved in research, from PhD students to more experienced researchers, to teachers and policy makers.  

If you are affiliated with a Flemish university you can find the tool on your institution’s educational platform: 

Ghent University: Ufora  

KU Leuven: Toledo 

University of Antwerp: Blackboard 

Hasselt University: Blackboard  

Vrije Universiteit Brussel: Canvas 

Not part of the above institutions? Go to https://mindthegap.vlir.be/ and follow the international version of the tool (condensed version).   

The Mind the GAP Podcast was jointly developed by VLIR (Flemish Interuniversity Council – Filip Colson) and the five Flemish universities (Ghent University – Stefanie Van der Burght; KU Leuven – Wouter Vandevelde; University of Antwerp – Marianne De Voecht; Hasselt University – Stephanie Ruysschaert; Vrije Universiteit Brussel – Klara Swalus) and was financed by the Flemish government. It was produced by podcast agency De Praeters and hosted by Elisa Nelissen (KU Leuven). 

Connect with us: https://mindthegap.vlir.be/

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Resources Mentioned 

• ALLEA (2023). The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity: Revised Edition 2023. Berlin. DOI 10.26356/ECOC           
• Carpentier N. (2022). Waarom moet alles “top” zijn en is er geen trager rijvak meer? De Standaard, 1 juni. Retrieved July 9, 2024 from https://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20220531_97581993.  
• Need help? 
• Ghent University: Intranet (search: Psychosocial well-being)  
• KU Leuven: Well-being - Health care, well-being & safety
• University of Antwerp: Intranet on wellbeing
• Hasselt University: Support  
• Vrije Universiteit Brussel: Welzijn: ons hulpaanbod – VUB
• Ashley Crossman (2019). What is game theory? Economic game theory? ThoughtCo, March 1. Retrieved July 15, 2024 from https://www.thoughtco.com/game-theory-3026626.  

Key Takeaways

• Being a scientist is doing 3 jobs at the same time (research, education, administration), this can be hard.
• The passion that drives us can at the same time hold a risk to overachieving, crossing personal boundaries, stress, perfectionism, imposter syndrome, ... .
• All of us struggle with the mixture of personality traits and the demands of the academic environment, at some point, to some extent. How much will differ from the specific combination.
• Researchers have to make/get/take time to reflect and doubt on what they do. It is a crucial element in an environment of thinkers.
• Cultural change is slow, we need to actively work on it.
• Different people have different strengths and all of them are valuable.
• If you do something for a day job, you will make mistakes. This is not embarrassing. We just must deal with it.
• Research is a team effort.
• Advice Charlotte: take moments of silence and breaks. That too is being highly efficient (this idea is backed up by research on mind wandering)
• Advice Ernst: keep talking about the issues to keep improving working in academia.