improving Research Ethics Expertise and Competencies to Ensure Reliability and Trust in Science
Objectives
- Establish a rich and nuanced understanding of challenges raised by new technologies in relation to ethics review processes
- Develop and disseminate proposals for the adaptation of ethics review processes
- Create education, training, and awareness in research ethics and ethics review, reaching European and international ethics experts and researchers
- Implement and embed sustainable education, training, and awareness on a European and global level through a training program for ethics reviewers and pilot institutions
- Generate long-term impact through a sustainable dissemination and exploitation alliance based on the pillar networks of EUREC, ENERI, EUA, EARMA, and the Embassy of Good Science
Outputs
- Training materials and awareness actions for research ethics experts, researchers and students, complemented by teacher and learner guides
- A dataset of ethical challenges of new technologies
- Recommendations on how ethics review processes could be adapted
- Recommendations to mitigate ethical challenges of research on and with new technologies
- Recommendations to reduce the risk of ethics dumping in research on and with new technologies
- An implementation guide for research organizations on how to integrate irecs training and recommendations into standard operating procedures and curricula Recommendations on how stakeholders can strengthen ethics review processes
Key project results/activities for RECs and ethics experts
The irecs project aims to illuminate the ethical and legal challenges posed by emerging technologies and ethical review processes at a global level. Building on this analysis, it seeks to develop and provide training for the target audience of research ethics experts, early-career researchers, and students. This analysis also aims to suggest proposals for the adaptation of ethical review processes across Europe and globally.
At the outset of the project, the need for training in the context of ethical evaluation of new technologies was analysed, and emerging and potentially disruptive technologies that were most likely to require training were explored. Four specific technologies were identified for further exploration throughout the project: human biobanking, genome editing (including human and non-human applications), artificial intelligence in health and healthcare, and extended reality.
After identifying the technologies, an open-source data set of ethical and legal issues for these technologies was created, and recommendations for addressing ethical challenges from research in the selected technologies in Europe were provided (D2.2). These included the following:
- For AI in healthcare, irecs advocates for adapting the composition of RECs to include AI experts; establishing uniform and coherent “AI in healthcare” guidelines across EU member states; and developing REC methodologies that go beyond mere compliance.
- For biobanking, irecs calls for the implementation of a standardised consent model across EU member states; addressing regulatory inconsistencies between biobanks and the secondary use of data across EU member states; and refining and harmonizing the scope of reportable incidental findings.
- For genome editing, irecs emphasises the importance of providing consistent training for ethics experts to differentiate between different subcategories and applications of genome editing; adopting a case-by-case approach to gene drive experiments; and highlighting policy discrepancies between countries, including EU member states.
- For extended reality, irecs proposes establishing “digital subcommittees” within RECs; ensuring that users can readily identify AI-generated content in XR; and addressing the surveillance capabilities of XR, particularly in virtual work environments.
Similar recommendations for addressing ethical challenges from research in the selected technologies beyond Europe will also be developed later in the project. All analytical tasks will provide the basis for the preparation of proposals for adapting ethical review and training. The project plans to carry out centralised and decentralised training in Europe, China, South Korea, and West Africa, including training Horizon Europe ethics experts. In total, it is planned to train 600 research ethics experts centrally and 1,000 ethics reviewers, early-career researchers, and students in a decentralised manner. Training and proposals for adapting ethical review procedures will also be piloted at three trial universities.
Duration
October 2022 - September 2025
Website
www.irecs.eu
Cordis Entry
cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101058587
