I completed my PhD at the department of Philosophy at VU Amsterdam, but I combined empirical and philosophical research methods. As a philosopher, I thought about the various explanations that had previously been put forward in the literature for non-ethical behavior and about the extent to which these different explanations can coexist. Through questionnaires and focus groups, we gained insight into the research climate for integrity within the Amsterdam institutions.

The general picture: the more senior the respondent, the more positive one experiences the research climate. Respondents were concerned about the supervision of PhD students, whether they worked in biomedicine or humanities. Through focus groups, we heard about several examples of suboptimal or even poor guidance. That had an impact on me.

There’s a notion that the supervisor should be a role model, but how does such a thing work? During my time as a postdoc in Berlin, I tried to develop a new method to see if it helps if supervisors set a good example.