International - Misconduct Cases
Australian Misconduct Case
Mired in Controversy
Volume 12, No. 2, March 2004
A research misconduct case involving a renal transplant specialist at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia continues to generate controversy and additional investigations instead of a resolution, according to Science (303:298).
The specialist was accused of misrepresenting and fabricating experimental results, manipulating authorship credit in presentations and papers, and providing false data in a grant application to the National Health and Medical Research Council by two members of his lab and a graduate student.
An initial university inquiry cleared him of wrongdoing, but an outside panel convened by the UNSW council found early last year that he had “acted with intent to deceive” and with a “reckless disregard of the truth.” The specialist was removed from all supervisory duties.
Last December, the UNSW Vice Chancellor cleared the specialist of six allegations of scientific misconduct, but found that the specialist had committed 5 lesser acts of “academic misconduct” warranting censure but not the loss of his job or lab. Leading academics expressed the fear that this decision may “tarnish” the reputation of Australian universities. The specialist indicated that he may fight the decision.
The specialist has admitted making a “trivial” error on a grant application but denies any serious misconduct. He has also tried to obtain a court order preventing publication of the 11-volume outside panel report which the university may release.
Three government bodies are conducting separate investigations into the alleged financial mismanagement of his grants and the university’s handling of the whistleblowers’ complaints.
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