Periodic Reporting for period 2 - PRO-Ethics (Participatory Real Life Experiments in Research and Innovation Funding Organisations on Ethics)
Berichtszeitraum: 2021-04-01 bis 2022-06-30
In the last decades, the perception of societal outreach of research and innovation (R&I) has moved from an information-push oriented ‘public understanding of science’ approach to a ‘science with and for society’ understanding. R&I policymakers realised it is not enough to punctually involve societal stakeholders at later stages of R&I to ensure the best possible outcome and mitigate risks. Instead, the involvement of broad societal groups must be continuously ensured.
Unlike traditional approaches to RDI where researchers define research interests and methods, generate results and interpret outcomes, participatory approaches enable societal groups to get involved as collaboration partners and shape the research agenda. This in turn bears heavy ethical risks, such as exploitation, technological divide, and the reproduction of societal inequalities. It also touches on questions of research integrity, such as a potential decrease in quality of the scientific process.
To address these issues, PRO-Ethics works with 8 research funding organisations (RFOs) across Europe to test new, ethical ways of involving non-traditional stakeholders in their decision-making processes. The project focuses on three fields of action of RFO activities: Participation in 1) innovation projects; 2) strategy development; and 3) evaluation processes. The overall objective is to create a comprehensive, co-developed, tested, and widely consulted Ethics Framework, to enable a more effective handling of the ethical dimension of participatory research and innovation and create more relevant, fair and effective R&I activities.
Unlike traditional approaches to RDI where researchers define research interests and methods, generate results and interpret outcomes, participatory approaches enable societal groups to get involved as collaboration partners and shape the research agenda. This in turn bears heavy ethical risks, such as exploitation, technological divide, and the reproduction of societal inequalities. It also touches on questions of research integrity, such as a potential decrease in quality of the scientific process.
To address these issues, PRO-Ethics works with 8 research funding organisations (RFOs) across Europe to test new, ethical ways of involving non-traditional stakeholders in their decision-making processes. The project focuses on three fields of action of RFO activities: Participation in 1) innovation projects; 2) strategy development; and 3) evaluation processes. The overall objective is to create a comprehensive, co-developed, tested, and widely consulted Ethics Framework, to enable a more effective handling of the ethical dimension of participatory research and innovation and create more relevant, fair and effective R&I activities.
Since the start of the project, PRO-Ethics produced a total of 25 deliverables in the context of eight work packages, organised 20 official project events, and met for 36 online consortium calls and informal meetings, on top of numerous bi- and multilateral meetings between project partners.
In WP8, procedures for ethics committee approvals, recruitment of participants, and informed consent were broadly defined. Knowledge management, open access and data management were also addressed in this context, and further explored in WP7, where quality assurance procedures were also laid out in detail.
In WP1, the theoretical foundations of the project were laid, focusing on the legal and regulatory frameworks European RFOs operate in and outlining different approaches to the ethics in and of participation. WP1 was concluded in March 2021 with the development of a first proposal for an ethics framework including practical guidelines, to support the design and evaluation of ethically sound participatory RFO activities.
WP2 oversaw the implementation of the first pilot phase, where 4 experimental participatory pilots underwent a detailed ethical analysis that fed directly into WP1. Following the conclusion of phase I, 7 further pilots were developed, of which 6 reached the implementation stage. This process was supported by a co-creation workshop as well as a 2-day training for ethical engagement processes. Currently, the implementation of these phase II pilots is the main focus of this WP, where the draft ethics framework is tested to further its development. Additionally, WP2 also includes collaborative efforts with TAFTIE, aimed at gaining additional inputs and raising the profile of PRO-Ethics within its primary stakeholder group.
WP3 started out with the collaborative development of a reporting and assessment tool for RFO partners. The main activities of WP3 entail cross-pilot learning efforts, which were so far realised by 2 workshops. Additionally, RFO partners have been reporting their experiences in the form of “pilot stories”, which serve both as a tool for reflection and discussion, as well as to illustrate the challenges, pitfalls, and potential solutions of experimental participatory methodologies. Furthermore, an IT tool to facilitate participatory activities was identified and set up for 2 of the phase II pilots.
WP4 identified relevant stakeholders and organised 2 of 3 stakeholder engagement workshops with different target groups. Furthermore, the first of 2 dialogue events with ethics committees (RECs) and research integrity bodies (RIOs) were held, as well as a workshop focused solely on RECs. The stakeholders collected for the mapping also supported the communication, dissemination and exploitation (CDE) efforts of WP6.
WP5 directly continues the work of WP1 to develop a final version of the ethics framework and guidelines. To this end, the experiences of RFO partners with the draft framework were surveyed and feedback from experts and the wider stakeholder community was collected. This culminated in a first revision of the framework that forms the basis for further internal and external feedback loops, most prominently with an e-consultation currently in preparation for RP3. This feedback process was also supported by the development of a concept to properly monitor and evaluate the participatory activities of the project.
In WP6, the project identity was developed, a website and social media presence were established, and an accessible project flyer and poster were designed. An animated video, 2 policy briefs, 6 newsletters, and 26 blogposts have been released. While the consortium partners serve as multipliers for the PRO-Ethics social media accounts, they also organised and participated in various conferences, workshops and other events to raise the profile of the project.
Project management and coordination is an ongoing process, implemented according to the needs of the project and its partners in WP7. Of special note is the exit of project partner TACR due to factors outside the consortium’s sphere of influence. While one pilot was subsequently terminated, additional activities in WP2 and WP3 were developed to compensate for this loss. There has also been an increased involvement of the advisory board, which provided valuable expert inputs in the form of quality assurance on deliverables, workshop participation and additional multilateral meetings.
In WP8, procedures for ethics committee approvals, recruitment of participants, and informed consent were broadly defined. Knowledge management, open access and data management were also addressed in this context, and further explored in WP7, where quality assurance procedures were also laid out in detail.
In WP1, the theoretical foundations of the project were laid, focusing on the legal and regulatory frameworks European RFOs operate in and outlining different approaches to the ethics in and of participation. WP1 was concluded in March 2021 with the development of a first proposal for an ethics framework including practical guidelines, to support the design and evaluation of ethically sound participatory RFO activities.
WP2 oversaw the implementation of the first pilot phase, where 4 experimental participatory pilots underwent a detailed ethical analysis that fed directly into WP1. Following the conclusion of phase I, 7 further pilots were developed, of which 6 reached the implementation stage. This process was supported by a co-creation workshop as well as a 2-day training for ethical engagement processes. Currently, the implementation of these phase II pilots is the main focus of this WP, where the draft ethics framework is tested to further its development. Additionally, WP2 also includes collaborative efforts with TAFTIE, aimed at gaining additional inputs and raising the profile of PRO-Ethics within its primary stakeholder group.
WP3 started out with the collaborative development of a reporting and assessment tool for RFO partners. The main activities of WP3 entail cross-pilot learning efforts, which were so far realised by 2 workshops. Additionally, RFO partners have been reporting their experiences in the form of “pilot stories”, which serve both as a tool for reflection and discussion, as well as to illustrate the challenges, pitfalls, and potential solutions of experimental participatory methodologies. Furthermore, an IT tool to facilitate participatory activities was identified and set up for 2 of the phase II pilots.
WP4 identified relevant stakeholders and organised 2 of 3 stakeholder engagement workshops with different target groups. Furthermore, the first of 2 dialogue events with ethics committees (RECs) and research integrity bodies (RIOs) were held, as well as a workshop focused solely on RECs. The stakeholders collected for the mapping also supported the communication, dissemination and exploitation (CDE) efforts of WP6.
WP5 directly continues the work of WP1 to develop a final version of the ethics framework and guidelines. To this end, the experiences of RFO partners with the draft framework were surveyed and feedback from experts and the wider stakeholder community was collected. This culminated in a first revision of the framework that forms the basis for further internal and external feedback loops, most prominently with an e-consultation currently in preparation for RP3. This feedback process was also supported by the development of a concept to properly monitor and evaluate the participatory activities of the project.
In WP6, the project identity was developed, a website and social media presence were established, and an accessible project flyer and poster were designed. An animated video, 2 policy briefs, 6 newsletters, and 26 blogposts have been released. While the consortium partners serve as multipliers for the PRO-Ethics social media accounts, they also organised and participated in various conferences, workshops and other events to raise the profile of the project.
Project management and coordination is an ongoing process, implemented according to the needs of the project and its partners in WP7. Of special note is the exit of project partner TACR due to factors outside the consortium’s sphere of influence. While one pilot was subsequently terminated, additional activities in WP2 and WP3 were developed to compensate for this loss. There has also been an increased involvement of the advisory board, which provided valuable expert inputs in the form of quality assurance on deliverables, workshop participation and additional multilateral meetings.
PRO-Ethics aims to create a profound impact on innovation ethics through its processes and products. Specifically, PRO-Ethics develops, tests and distributes an ethics framework to support RFOs in ethically engaging non-traditional stakeholders in their activities. Since the beginning of the project, a first draft of the ethics framework was elaborated, which is currently being tested and further developed. The ethics framework 1.0 and practical guidelines will be finalised in RP3, tailor-made for application by RFOs across Europe and possibly beyond. However, at this point the draft framework is not yet ready for dissemination. Instead, PRO-Ethics laid the groundwork for future impact by raising the profile of the project and engaging potential stakeholders early in the development of the ethics framework, thus preparing a broad take-up once it is finalised.
In addition, the project led to first institutional changes within participating RFOs through the creation of internal ethics checklists for participatory processes. Because such participatory processes represent only a tiny minority of activities implemented and/or funded by research funding organisations, participation in PRO-Ethics also represents an opportunity to achieve greater buy-in within the larger organisations of the RFO partners of PRO-Ethics, and in turn more flexibility towards participatory approaches.
In addition, the project led to first institutional changes within participating RFOs through the creation of internal ethics checklists for participatory processes. Because such participatory processes represent only a tiny minority of activities implemented and/or funded by research funding organisations, participation in PRO-Ethics also represents an opportunity to achieve greater buy-in within the larger organisations of the RFO partners of PRO-Ethics, and in turn more flexibility towards participatory approaches.