TRUST project starts
“Creating and enhancing
TRUSTworthy, responsible and
equitable partnerships in international research”
Co-funded by the
European Commission, TRUST main objective is to reduce the risk
of exporting non ethical practices, that-is-to-say ‘ethics dumping’, in all the
fields of research to low and middle income countries (LMICs). As a Coordination and Support
Action of Horizon 2020, this is not a research project. TRUST is thus aimed to catalyse a global collaborative
effort to improve adherence to high ethical standards in research in LMICs. The
implementation of TRUST just starts, and will end at the end of 2018.
Context:
Globalization of research activities
is raising the risk of developing research sensitive ethical issues being conducted by
European organisations outside the EU without proper compliance structures and
follow‐up. This
phenomenon has highlighted gaps in global research ethics governance. Several
governance frameworks and standards to guide research activities have been
initiated, but there are disparate and lacking a guiding vision. That is why TRUST will use
existing frameworks and tools in order to reinforce and enhance them.
Project overview:
‘Ethics dumping’
means both purposeful exploitation of third country research
participants/resources as well as exploitation based on insufficient ethics
awareness. In this respect, the project is built on an interdisciplinary
collaboration between multi-level actors (e.g. ethics bodies, policy makers,
civil society organisations, funding organisations, industry and academic
scholars), an essential aspect to get a global view on the ethics issue, to
receive wide responses, and to target a large public.
During three years,
the TRUST international consortium and its networks will collaborate to create
and start implementing three tools preventing from ethics dumping: a Global
Code of conduct, designed for funders and researchers especially, containing
major principles of equitable research partnerships; on-line Fair Research
Contracts protecting vulnerable populations involved in research and ensuring
fair benefits-sharing; and a Compliance and ethics follow-up designed for a wide use, for all
stakeholders.
Activities are based
on case studies involving local structures in countries where the research
takes place and impacts population. In addition to internal production of case
studies, a bottom-up call for competition with 2,000€ to win has been launched
in order to collect original case studies (deadline March the 2nd,
2016), for instance misuse of health technologies. English and French application
form is available at the following link: http://www.progressproject.eu/news/2208-case-competition-reducing-the-risk-of-exporting-unethical-research-practices/
To reinforce the
guiding vision of TRUST, a funder and industry platform of dialogue is been
designed to co-ordinate and support activities of the TRUST partners. Indeed
funders are powerful agents in achieving high ethical standards globally,
having already a legal requirement to comply with their financial instruments.
The TRUST project is
a stimulus to then allow the international community to take over. Global adherence
to high ethical standards and the sustainability of the impact of TRUST’s
mission will be ensured through the establishment of a global network by the
development of a collaboration platform, creating an international forum for
exchange of information and views, and establishing confidence between
stakeholders.
Almost two hundreds African scientists were invited to present their research programmes dealing with health, environment and agriculture. Aviesan-Inserm took this opportunity to speak of the new technologies developed in the industrial countries to help elderlies and incapacitated persons to stay home longer. The presentation highlighted the use of these technologies but also the ethical tensions they raised (the loss of privacy for example). During the debate with the audience, it turns out that these technologies will soon respond to the challenge of the growing aging population leaving now in the big urban centers of the middle income countries.
