The biannual WCRIs cater for all disciplinary fields, all professional ranks, and all career stages, and involve all stakeholders in research integrity, including universities, research institutes, research funders, publishers, and governments. The conferences are lively and interactive, and the program consists of a mix of research findings, reflection and policy development. Conferences typically produce an influential policy statement such as the Singapore Statement, the Hong Kong Principles and the Cape Town Statement.

WCRIs take a strong view on ethnic, gender, geographical, disciplinary and career stage diversity, and ensure that this is reflected in the programme, the keynote speakers, the committee members, and the participants. We give special attention to early career professionals and we organise a doctoral forum, workshops, and meet-the-expert sessions for them during the conference.

Each WCRI emphasises a specific theme, but all cater for the whole range of research integrity issues and responsible research practices. This means that also the driving forces of the individual and collective behaviour of researchers that influence research integrity will get substantial attention. Specifically these driving forces concern the skills and virtuousness of the individual, the local research climate, and the incentives of the research system at large. The 8th WCRI will put thematic emphasis on Catalysing the translation of research into trustworthy policy and innovation.