Ex-NTNU soccer coach's doctorate revoked for research misconduct

Taipei, Nov. 2 (CNA) National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) has revoked its former soccer team coach Chou Tai-ying's (周台英) doctorate degree because her thesis involved research misconduct, according to the university.

Chou, a former soccer star, was found earlier this year to have bullied students by coercing them into providing blood samples for research, threatening them with the loss of required graduation credits and isolating them if they did not comply.

As a result of the university's internal investigation and conclusion, her coaching license was revoked and she was dismissed from NTNU in July, with the school pledging not to reappoint her as a teacher within the next four years.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) also requested the school investigate Chou's doctoral thesis for alleged violations against the Human Subjects Research Act, with the heaviest penalty being revocation of the doctorate.

NTNU told CNA on Saturday that it had reviewed Chou's thesis, "The Impact of Sport Science Interventions on Preventing Sports Injuries and Enhancing Performance in Female Football Players."

The university found that although the study did not involve invasive methods such as blood sampling, its subjects included 19-year-old college freshmen who participated without obtaining the required consent forms from their legal guardians, constituting research misconduct.

After a review by the university-level committee on academic ethics cases, NTNU decided to revoke Chou's degree, in line with the school's relevant regulations, which stipulated that doctorate or master's theses involved in major violations of academic ethics or integrity should be revoked.

While Taiwan's Civil Code was revised to define the age of adults as 18 years or older in 2023, the legal adult age was 20 when Chou was conducting her research, NTNU added.

The MOE told CNA that it received notification of Chou's degree revocation on Oct. 7.