Pro-active Pandemic Crisis Ethics and Integrity Framework

Project Information

PREPARED

Grant agreement ID: 101058094

DOI

10.3030/101058094

Project closed

EC signature date 11 May 2022

Start date 1 September 2022

End date 31 August 2025

Funded under

• Reforming and enhancing the European R&I System

Total cost

€ 4 201 758,75

EU contribution

€ 4 201 758,75

Coordinated by

UCLAN CYPRUS LIMITED
Cyprus

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - PREPARED (Pro-active Pandemic Crisis Ethics and Integrity Framework)

Reporting period: 2023-11-01 to 2025-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

During pandemics and other major crises, research can help save lives and improve health. Yet, research in pressured times can also take short-cuts with ethics requirements and research integrity.

The PREPARED project investigated the research ethics and integrity challenges during sudden global crises in nine languages: English, German, Russian, Mandarin, French, Korean, Hindi, Japanese and Spanish. Whilst the focus was on learning from the COVID-19 pandemic, avian flu and Ebola epidemics were also examined, as well as crises surrounding tsunamis.

To ensure that research results from the PREPARED projects were informed by voices from those in vulnerable situations, the situations of overburdened health and social care workers, disabled people, women researchers and marginalized sex workers informed the research.

The network created by PREPARED was extensive and included: public research funders, private research funders, researchers, citizens and civil society, policy-makers and policy advisors, publishers and editors, research ethics committee members, research integrity officers and members of non-governmental organisations.

All contributed, where appropriate, to the outputs of PREPARED, in particular 2 codes of conduct, 7 guidelines and 2 ethics briefs.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

PREPARED Code
https://preparedcode.uclancyprus.ac.cy/

The PREPARED Code guides research during pandemics to ensure that research ethics and integrity values are respected during times of crisis. It was already praised in Nature Medicine (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-03795-4) and its development described in a Springer Brief (https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-91324-2). The PREPARED Code is available in 13 languages.

The TRUST Code Supplement
https://www.globalcodeofconduct.org/

In 2018, a highly successful ethics code was launched in the European Parliament to ensure that international research collaborations are equitable. Whilst the code is highly successful, it does not specifically relate to major crisis settings, which is a gap that research funders had brought to the attention of PREPARED. The TRUST Code Supplement was developed in a race against time. The code applies in fragile settings, in particular in disaster-affected areas, conflict or post-conflict zones, or high-crime informal settlements.

7 Guidelines

For the different stakeholders, 7 guidelines were produced, of which the main ones are as follows.

For publishers and editors fast-track review procedures for crisis-related manuscripts were provided.

For research ethics committees (REC) guidance on (1) expediting ethics review, (2) prioritizing studies and (3) reliable funding were provided.

For researchers, a highly visual, awareness-raising report about the harassment of scientists during the COVID-19 pandemic was provided. It was featured in Nature Medicine (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-03870-w) after its launch by world-leading philosopher Prof. Peter Singer.

Two unique policy briefs were produced, as the briefs did not only cover a particular topic, but also developed a new method for writing briefs, namely ethics advocacy briefs. Policies were examined on whether they can improve on fairness, respect, care and honesty and the best solution was presented in a policy brief.

The first policy brief requested that the Group of 20 (G20) should accept the African Union amongst their midst. A Nature article covered the brief: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-01014-z. Meanwhile, under the Indian Presidency of the G20, the African Union was admitted. Our second ethics-driven policy was focused on a question that influences all global collaborations, namely the inability of scientists from lower income countries to take part in in-person conferences and meetings in higher income countries, reliably and at reasonable cost. The brief makes an innovative suggestion for short-term scientist visas.

The biggest policy impact of the project was that three suggested changes to the Declaration of Helsinki were accepted (see also below).

Research ethics and integrity can be better maintained if researchers and other stakeholders are well trained.

The training we produced focused on achieving a diversity of platforms and the provision of training blocks that can also be used by others. The PREPARED App was featured in Nature Medicine (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-03549-2). Four websites serve a diverse range of users. The PREPARED Code training site includes a pedagogically innovative way of making each article more relatable by having one clip each. One of our general video clips was accessed by almost over 47,000 people (https://youtu.be/WwghcJr1F74).

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

PREPARED delivered two new ethics codes based on the highly time-consuming but effective methodology with which the highly successful TRUST Code was developed. The codes will improve pandemic preparedness and contribute to ensuring that much need research in disaster-affected areas, conflict or post-conflict zones, or high-crime informal settlements can be undertaken ethically.

PREPARED also developed a new innovative ethics driven policy brief format and issued two briefs. The methodology was praised as follows in a Nature article covering the brief:

"The ‘Advocating for a G21’ document is “a good model of how to include ethics in decision-making”, says Katherine Littler, co-lead of the World Health Organization’s Health Ethics and Governance Unit in Geneva, Switzerland." https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-01014-z

Group photo taken at the Kick-off Meeting, UN University Campus Bonn, September 2022

Action shot taken at the Kick-off Meeting, UN University Campus Bonn, September 2022

Action shot taken at third conference in Amsterdam May 2024

Action shot taken at UNESCO-hosted meeting June 2023 Paris

Group photo taken at third conference in Amsterdam May 2024

Group photo taken at UNESCO-hosted meeting June 2023 Paris

PREPARED Code book launch at UNESCO June 2025

Group photo taken at UNESCO final event June 2025