can you turn off the 'research complete' screen?

In the Options/Game screen, UNtick "show GNN News". I believe that this will take care of it. In the same screen, you can also stop the quarterly reports from popping up, and also stop the social event popups.

i have tried that already, but it won't work

thanks anyway!

Lol that screen gets so annoying, I tried to shut it off too (unsuccessfully...)

Yes, indirectly...

First, read this entire post of mine;
Robots_OFF!
which basicly gives two alternative settings.

And, if you are actually a good coder (and, i must insist *Know* exactly what you'd be doing with these values & function calls) you could also tackle the (HeadlineWnd.dxpack) file itself (i'd recommend working on a backup, btw) found in the DL\Screens folder which is responsible for setting the Robot movies ON and slotting its activation within the layout provided.
By editing that file to whatever you wish - anything would be possible.