Certified VIRT2UE trainer

The certified VIRT2UE trainer badge serves as an indicator of accomplishment of those who completed the VIRT2UE Train the Trainer program and thus became certified trainers in the field of research integrity and ethics. Thus, the badge certifies that the participants acquired knowledge and skills to conduct research integrity courses. Concretely, the participants earning a badge have a developed predisposition to cultivate virtues and know how to act upon those virtues in concrete situations, learned how to relate the principles outlined in the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity to a specific research integrity case, developed knowledge and skills to apply exercises that help researchers to cultivate scientific virtues to specific cases and dilemmas and developed didactical competencies necessary to organize and implement a VIRT2UE training. About the program: The train-the-trainer program is focused on what it means to be a good researcher rather than teaching the norms and rules. The program takes an aspirational approach and promotes the reflection on personal attitudes and behaviours. Those completing the program will be trained on how to reflect on concrete cases and moral dilemmas in the field of research and to promote such reflection in others. Therefore, they will be qualified to enable their trainees to integrate such practices into their day-to-day professional life. The program combines both online and face-to-face components, taking, therefore, a blended learning approach. The online materials are designed for individual learning and provide an introduction to important research issues and concepts in research integrity. The online training, which needs to be completed in advance to face-to-face activities, focuses on concepts such as virtues, values, norms, moral dilemmas and conflicts, and the underlying principles of the European Code of Conduct. On the other hand, the face-to-face part develops the participants’ teaching skills and promotes interactive and case-based group activities. In the face-to-face training, participants learn and practice five exercises, supervised by a trainer. Both online and face-to-face preparation is required to obtain the certification and the badge. Finally, the train-the-trainer program is characterized by its adaptability. The course material provided is adaptable and researchers are encouraged to adapt materials to tailor their courses to the needs of their students. Although the provided toolbox is adaptable, the virtue ethics approach and the learner-centeredness have to be maintained. Detailed information about the program is available on https://embassy.science/wiki/Main_Page.