FoRR

Fundamentals of Responsible Research (FoRR)

Background

Medical education at German faculties is largely focused on teaching medical skills. Complementary scientific teaching content is provided with limited scope.

Therefore, the German Medical Congress in 2019 called for further integration of scientific content in medical education. The excellence strategy of the federal and state governments, as well as the DFG (German Research Foundation), demand improvement of scientific education within medical studies in order to remain competitive at national and international level.

Objectives

We aim to implement a comprehensive course for medical doctoral students focused on Responsible Research that addresses currently underrepresented research topics and can be taught at scale for a high number of doctoral students.

Methodology

The project is divided into three working packages:

1. Modular course development on an open source platform (Moodle), divided into 3 modules:

• (a) Before starting your research project
• (b) Before data collection
• (c) Before writing up your thesis/ project

2. Evaluation whether the course is fit for purpose

3. Development of a train-the-trainer concept to enable PostDocs and other post-graduate researchers to teach Responsible Research to their own group of doctoral students

Expected results / Implications / Perspectives

The goal of this project is to increase the number of doctoral students in this program to 100 per semester by implementation of the train-the-trainer course with 5 additional lecturers. Engagement of other institutions is planned to disseminate the course widely.