Our Strategy 2026-2031
Strategy 2026-2031
UKRIO’s strategy, values and direction for the next five years
Who we are
UKRIO is the UK’s independent charity dedicated to safeguarding and advancing research integrity. For two decades, we have supported researchers, institutions, and the wider research system to uphold the highest standards of honesty, rigour, and ethical practice.
Our independence is central to our role. We are not a regulator and we do not enforce compliance. Instead, we offer expert, confidential, and impartial support that helps people navigate complex issues and make informed decisions.
We work across all sectors where research takes place: from higher education, the NHS, industry, charities, government bodies, and beyond.
Our values
UKRIO’s work is grounded in a set of principles that guide how we support the research community and uphold our mission.
- Independent, ensuring our advice and guidance is trusted and impartial
- Practical, focusing on real‑world tools and solutions that support consistency and efficiency
- Collaborative, recognising that integrity is a collective endeavour
- Responsive, pairing timely support when issues arise with proactive work on systemic issues
- Community‑led, putting the research community’s needs and priorities at the heart of our work.
Together, these principles underpin everything we do to advance our mission: to promote good research practice and prevent research misconduct.
Our theory of change
UKRIO plays an important role in helping practitioners and organisations safeguard and advance research integrity. But we recognise that integrity is shaped not only by individual actions or organisational policies – it is also influenced by the wider research system, where pressures, incentives, norms, and cultures all play a part.
A core principle of our five‑year strategy is therefore to look beyond supporting the community when issues occur. We will also work to understand and address the underlying conditions that allow those issues to emerge.
Our vision is for a UK research community that produces work that is honest, reliable, and ethical.
We will contribute to this by:
- Empowering individuals: Research integrity relies on the actions of everyone involved: from researchers to technicians; governance staff to senior academics. We will work to ensure all have the knowledge, tools, and support to embed integrity into their everyday practice.
- Strengthening organisations: Organisations undertaking, funding, or publishing research all have a key role in promoting good research practice and preventing misconduct. Our aim is to help every organisation embed integrity into its ways of working and to create the conditions and environment to support responsible practice.
- Influencing the system: The policies, incentives, and norms of the wider research system strongly influence behaviour. We will advocate for a system that enables honest, reliable, and ethical research.
| Level | What we do | Our intended outcomes | Our vision |
| Systems | – Act as a recognised and trusted voice on key research integrity issues affecting organisations and individuals – Advise on how policy may translate into practice Provide thought leadership and policy recommendations – Advocate for collective action to address research integrity issues at the systems level | – Research integrity remains a priority on the national and international agenda – Policymakers consider and address key and emerging research integrity issues. – The research ecosystem enables and promotes a culture of integrity. – Research is utilised for societal benefit/the public good. | The UK research community produces work that is honest, reliable, and ethical. |
| Organisations | – Provide information, advice, and guidance to support organisations promote good research practice and prevent research misconduct – Convene actors from across the research ecosystem to consider and act on key and emerging research integrity issues together – Identify and facilitate the sharing of good practice to minimise duplication of work and promote consistency and rigour | – Research employers have the knowledge, tools, and support promote/adopt good research practice and prevent research misconduct. – Research funders and publishers recognise and utilise their role in enabling and advancing research integrity. | |
| Individuals | – Provide independent and confidential advice and guidance on research integrity issues – Offer high quality training, events, and educational resources to support practitioners put research integrity in practice – Provide opportunities for individuals to network, collaborate, and share good practice | – Individuals have the knowledge, tools, and support to promote and/or adopt good research practice. – Individuals have the ability to avoid, prevent, and address potential breaches of research integrity. |
Our strategic priorities
Our strategic priorities are designed to help the research community navigate this environment and strengthen integrity across the system.
Our work over the next five years will be guided by five strategic priorities designed to deepen support, improve efficiency, and build the conditions for responsible research practice.
Strengthening the depth and reach of practical support
As demands on the research community grow, so too must the support available to it. Strengthening the depth and reach of the direct and practical support we provide is central to our strategy. Our goal is to ensure all individuals and organisations involved in research have access to timely, practical, and expert guidance that enables them to safeguard and advance research integrity efficiently and effectively.
We recognise that many organisations are under significant resource pressures, facing increasingly complex integrity issues, and in some cases working with limited research infrastructure or familiarity with research integrity.
To help practitioners work more efficiently and confidently, we will strengthen our advisory services and expand our practical guidance, ensuring these are applicable across the different sectors and contexts in which research is undertaken.
We will also develop clear, accessible templates, model procedures, and practical tools that reduce duplication of effort and promote consistent, high‑quality practice. By deepening and widening access to direct, practical support, we will build capability across the research system and ensure expert assistance is available whenever it is needed.
Building skills and capability
A strong culture of research integrity depends on people having the knowledge, skills, and confidence to apply good practice in real‑world settings. This requires more than awareness: it demands sustained opportunities to learn, practise, and embed the principles and behaviours that underpin responsible research.
Over the next five years, UKRIO will expand and enhance its education and training offer to ensure that all those involved in research and at every stage of their careers can undertake high‑quality, practical learning. Our goal is to make training and education as accessible as possible so that research integrity becomes a shared, mainstream competency rather than specialist knowledge held by a few.
We will broaden the reach of our training through flexible formats, tailored content, and resources designed to meet the needs of different sectors and organisational contexts.
By providing clear, practical guidance and opportunities to build capability across the system, we will help embed integrity as a core professional skill and empower individuals and organisations to respond to integrity challenges with confidence.
Creating space for shared solutions
We believe support is not only about having access to resources. It is also about people and connection.
Research integrity is strengthened when people can learn from one another, share emerging issues, and discuss what good practice looks like in a rapidly evolving landscape.
Over the next five years, UKRIO will expand its events and convening work, creating spaces where organisations and individuals can come together to exchange insight, build confidence, and develop solutions collectively.
By fostering this sense of community, we will help ensure that the sector benefits from shared experience rather than unnecessarily reinventing the wheel.
We will also continue to provide an independent sounding board for issues at the intersection of integrity and ethics, giving practitioners a trusted space to test concerns and explore options.
Our aim is to reduce uncertainty, build confidence, and ensure that every organisation – regardless of size, sector, or maturity – has access to the expertise, tools, and community it needs to navigate integrity issues with clarity and confidence.
Championing integrity across the research system
UKRIO’s vision extends beyond supporting compliance to policies and procedures. While these are essential tools, our ambition is to help create a research environment where people are supported to do their best work, empowered by a shared and genuine commitment to research integrity.
In the next five years, UKRIO will amplify its advocacy role, using our independence, expertise, and convening power to shape national and international conversations about research integrity.
Our aim is to make the case – clearly, persuasively, and consistently – that integrity is an essential foundation of research excellence, public trust, and responsible innovation.
Through targeted advocacy, thought leadership, policy discussions, and sustained engagement, we will make research integrity real, relevant, and compelling, ensuring it is recognised as a vital part of a healthy research system and shapes how research is funded, conducted, governed, assessed, published, and commercialised.
Ultimately, our goal is a research environment where integrity is firmly understood, widely prioritised, and consistently upheld.
Key strategic enablers
Delivering our ambitions for the next five years depends on UKRIO having a strong foundation and supporting infrastructure.
We are committed to ensuring UKRIO operates with maximum impact over the coming five years.
Through strong stakeholder engagement and enhanced organisational resilience, we will work to ensure we effectively safeguard and advance research integrity alongside the community we serve.
Ensuring our work is shaped and powered by the research community
We exist to serve and provide critical infrastructure for the research community. It is therefore essential that our work reflects the priorities and needs of the research community in all of its diversity.
Over the next five years, we will deepen and broaden our engagement with the research community so that our priorities, guidance, and services are consistently informed by real‑world experience and the sector’s most pressing needs.
We will build on the strength of our existing networks – including our 160+ subscriber organisations, our Board of Trustees, and our expert community – while also working to expand our reach to ensure our work reflects the full breadth of the research system.
By embedding stakeholder insight at every stage of our work, we will ensure that UKRIO’s work remains relevant, trusted, and credible.
Strengthening our internal capabilities and external reach
Delivering this strategy requires strong foundations and the internal capabilities to match our ambition.
Over the next five years, we will:
- Invest in our people, ensuring our team has the skills and capacity to deliver
- Strengthen our operational systems and digital infrastructure
- Improve our communications, marketing, and business development
- Maintain robust governance, strategic oversight, and financial sustainability
These enablers will support our ability to deliver high‑quality, impactful work across all areas of our strategy.
Implementation & next steps
While the priorities in this strategy will guide our work over the next five years, we will continue to engage with the research community each year to shape our annual work plan. This ensures our actions remain evidence‑based, aligned with stakeholder needs and focused where we can make the greatest impact, while staying responsive to emerging challenges and opportunities.
We will:
- Set clear, evidence‑informed priorities each year
- Monitor progress and adapt our approach as needed
- Engage regularly and meaningfully with stakeholders
- Measure our impact, with a commitment to continuous improvement
- Report transparently on our achievements and challenges
Our commitment is to remain accountable, responsive and focused on delivering meaningful, measurable impact for the research community.