My UM
My UM
Search

Quality Assurance: Support to Achieve the Best Research

When it comes to trustworthy research, the outcomes tell only a part of the story. In CAPHRI, focus lies on how those results are achieved, and help is offered along the way. 

To Laure Wynants, associate professor at the department of epidemiology, and Bart Penders, associate professor at the department Health, Ethics & Society, offering this help is what drives CAPHRI Quality Assurance (QA) system. Laure chairs the Quality Assurance committee, and Bart holds the role of Quality Officer. Their tasks are different, with Laure and the multidisciplinary Quality Assurance committee in charge of developing quality policy further, and Bart guiding and assisting CAPHRI researchers how to best live up to the ambitions written into the policies. They share a view on Research Quality, though. 

Rules and Reflections

The QA system combines clear guidance with active evaluation. A central website was launched in 2020 and was regularly updated. In 2026, it was updated further into a dynamic online Quality Assurance Handbook which accompanies researchers through the decisions they need to make when they plan, design and perform research, ranging from ethics, data management, open science principles and how to responsibly work with participants, all in one easily accessible spot.

This system is not only about useful resources and prescriptions though. Researchers are invited to have their work reviewed. When that happens, Bart sits down with them and together they take a tour through the past and planned research process. CAPHRI is home to truly diverse types of research, and through these tailor-made reviews, Bart can help researchers figure out how quality expectations and requirements concretely apply to their work. The reviews also help the Committee to further develop the system. “This is all about mutual learning,” Bart says. 

Coffee and Reviews

A database of approved projects helps Bart select studies to invite for a review. Often, reviews of a few studies by one researcher are combined, to minimise the pressure on researchers. Bart visits them in their offices, and they sit together with a cup of coffee. Researchers can also initiate a review themselves, when they are unsure about how to do new forms of research. After nearly 40 of such reviews, Bart and Laure are impressed about the effort researchers put into their work. “Over 90% of reviews report no issues whatsoever”, Bart observes. Mere compliance is not what most researchers are after though. “Researchers want to get the most out of their research, and are eager to learn from each other,” he adds, “and the Quality Assurance system allows this to happen.” 

“We try to make CAPHRI research a little bit better every day.”

Bart Penders, Quality Officer

Better Science

With multiple intersecting codes of conduct in place, navigating research regulations can feel overwhelming. The QA system helps create clarity about what applies in which situation. Helping researchers figuring out what applies to them is one part. Learning what matters to them is the other side of the coin, and this allows the Quality Assurance System to evolve as scientific practice evolves.

The online Quality Assurance Handbook continues to be updated. Most recently, resources on knowledge security evaluations were added, and researchers are offered help accordingly. Building trustworthy CAPHRI research is the overachieving goal. How that happens? “Helping researchers achieve better science every day, outside of the spotlight,” Laure answers, “by helping them to adopt best practices.”

Also read