About SEC-CSIR

Innovation Management Directorate            
Council of Scientific & Industrial Research            
New Delhi

STANDING PUBLICATIONS, ETHICS AND SCIENTIFIC VIGILANCE COMMITTEE (SEC)

Maintaining ethics in research and governance is of paramount importance for any organization. Beyond academic and publication guidelines, emphasis needs to be given to honesty, scientific validity of the work being published, aspects of freedom to pursue new ideas and criticize old ones, apportioning due credit to others, mutual respect, conflict of interest, education and mentorship, social responsibility and the law.

Ethics in Science and Governance should be a mandatory practice with appropriate placement of mechanism for Misconduct Prevention, Correction and Redressal. CSIR has also put in place the Guidelines for Ethics in Research and in Governance.

In pursuance of the said Guidelines, a Committee has been constituted vide OM No. 17/1/Misc/2021-IMD dated 27-July-2021. The duration of the Committee is 3 years.

      

Composition, SEC

Chairperson

Dr. Viswajanani J Sattigeri, Head, CSIR-TKDL Unit

Committee members

Dr. G Mahesh, CSIR-SCDD (Ethics/Safety Officer)

Dr. Nadir Sheikh, CSIR-HRDC

Ms. Deepti Sharma Dullu, CSIR-IMD

Dr. Vandana Bisht, CSIR-IMD (Member Secretary)

Terms of Reference, SEC

The role of SEC is as an advisory, audit, vigilance and a trainer. The SEC shall be providing inputs for redressal of a particular complaint/grievance pertaining to scientific research and governance based on the evidences submitted by complainant. The SEC shall also proactively conduct audits on matters related to ethical conduct and compliance to the Guidelines.

The activities as per the ToR, under the purview of SEC, include:

  1. Complaints/Grievances received from Scientific/Technical staff of CSIR Hq;
  2. Complaints/grievances received from unsatisfied scientific/technical staff of CSIR lab;
  3. Conducting workshops on GLP, safety issues, gender sensitivity, plagiarism etc.;
  4. Support to Ombudsman;
  5. Advice to DG, CSIR on matters related to scientific misconduct referred by him; and
  6. Response to external parties on scientific misconduct at CSIR

Declaration Form

To ensure that every scientist, technical officer, project staff and students have read the CSIR Guidelines for Ethics in Research and Governance, a Declaration statement may be signed by all concerned therewith undertaking that one shall follow the Guidelines in letter and spirit. The Heads of each Division/Directorate/Unit of CSIR HQrs. would be responsible to ensure taking the declaration as well as ensuring that the Guidelines are followed by all concerned in their respective places.

A self-declaration form for abiding by the Guidelines for Ethics in Research and in Governance is provided in the given link.

Procedure for Publications in CSIR Hqrs

In pursuance of the CSIR Guidelines for Ethics in Research and Governance, DG, CSIR has approved a procedure on publications in CSIR Hqrs. The OM to the effect is attached.

Contact Coordinates, SEC

For all matters related to the Guidelines for Ethics in Research and Governance and complaints of misconduct, please write to: sec.ethics@csir.res.in

Ombudsman for CSIR

CSIR Guidelines for Research and Governance also recommends appointment of one Ombudsman to each of the five Clusters of CSIR constituent laboratories that include Biological. Chemical, Engineering, Physical and Information Sciences, to investigate complaints that have not been solved by the concerned CSIR constituent.


      

CSIR Cluster*Ombudsman
Biological SciencesDr Shobhona Sharma, Retd. Senior Professor, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai
Chemical SciencesProf. Uday Maitra, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru
Engineering SciencesProf BV Reddy, Dept of Civil Engg and Chairman, CST, IISc, Bengaluru
Physical SciencesProf. Dhananjai Pandey, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-BHU), Varanasi
Information SciencesProf. Manindra Agrawal, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur