National Center for Principled Leadership & Research Ethics (NCPRE)

The National Center for Principled Leadership & Research Ethics (NCPRE) creates and disseminates resources to create and support institutional integrity through building Cultures of Excellence. NCPRE focuses on leadership in a variety of institutional settings, with a special focus on academic environments. 

Our work includes studying  and promoting improved leadership practice in university and private settings. NCPRE is working with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, on a $6.8M collaboration to support healthy labs. One flagship initiative is the Assessing Research Climates project, which provides universities with tools to assess their working and research ethics climates  and benchmark themselves against institutional peers. NCPRE also offers workshops and MOOC-based coursework devoted to ethical leadership and coping with  institutional challenges in the rapidly changing environment of higher education, here in the U.S. and  around the world. Partnering over a decade, NCPRE worked with Nanyang Technological University to create a year-long Academic Leadership Academy in a multi-year collaboration.

In all its activities, NCPRE is committed to forming, developing, and supporting academic cultures of excellence.

• We recognize that no one seeks disaster, and few people knowingly act unethically; small choices are important in setting personal and ethical pathways.
• Institutional context, organizational culture, peer influences, and setting an example at the top all contributeto promoting an ethical professional climate—or its opposite.
• We create tools, systems, and resources to help universities and other institutions educate their members about ethics.
• We define professional and research ethics as the smart choice, not just the right choice; they promote effectiveness and productivity in the long run.
• We help institutions assess the integrity of their environments, and develop strategies for improving them.
• We develop leaders using evidence-based, practical, applied strategies that include self-reflection and ethical values.
• When things go wrong, we provide strategies for improving matters and setting a better course of action.
• We help emerging professionals  to understand the importance of their ethical and professional choices, and to view themselves as responsible leaders.

The underlying values and norms that create this kind of institutional culture are set by institutional leaders and the sense of meaningful inclusion and belonging that they foster. Leaders recognize that responsible conduct of research does not occur in a vacuum, and that environments shape individual actions. The responsibilities of researchers and mentors is to create and maintain an environment that cultivates and supports the best and highest standards. Through initiatives like Transforming Challenged Units (TCU), Principled Academic Leadership, and individual leadership development, we develop leaders using evidence-based, practical, applied strategies. And when things go wrong, we provide strategies for salvage and for returning to business as usual.