Julie Simpson

Presidential Award of Excellence, 2017

Research Integrity Services

Director of Research Integrity Services

“Doing the right thing” is a vital part of Julie Simpson’s role at UNH. In fact, the word “integrity” is part of her job title – director of research integrity services.

Julie helps guide thousands of undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty and staff members, to adhere to the highest ethical and safety standards in their research and scholarly work. This not only ensures the quality of our work. It also builds our reputation as a world class research university and strengthens our brand.

Julie makes it her mission to stay on top of regulations that range from the rights of human and animal research subjects to privacy laws, big data and financial conflicts of interest.

And she has devoted countless hours to training colleagues throughout our community. She organizes three annual Responsible Conduct of Research training sessions. Altogether, she has run 19 trainings, reaching 1,125 undergraduates, faculty and staff. And since 2011, all incoming PhD students have been trained.

Julie also maintains a web-based instruction site, and more than 26,000 users complete the online program. Finally, she teaches a graduate course, “Ethics in Research and Scholarship,”

Julie’s work is essential to the integrity of research at UNH, from the study of vertebrates to seemingly simple public surveys. And while she is a tireless advocate for responsible research conduct, she also gains high praise as a collaborator and facilitator.

Recently, Julie noted that in her time at UNH, the university has rejected only a single research application because of disagreements over how a study would be conducted. Typically, she said, researchers are invited to discuss and revise proposals until they meet acceptable standards.

“My interest is in educating the next generation of researchers and helping them to do the right thing,” she has said.