Welcome - Ethics of Engagement (Mesh)

WMA Declaration of Helsinki

Strengthening clinical trials to provide high-quality evidence on health interventions and to improve research quality and coordination

How can community engagement in health research be strengthened for infectious disease outbreaks in Sub-Saharan Africa? A scoping review of the literature.

The Role of Community Engagement in Promoting Research Participants’ Understanding of Pharmacogenomic Research Results: Perspectives of Stakeholders Involved in HIV/AIDS Research and Treatment.

Bridging a gap between community and the research institution via a youth advisory group on health and health research in rural Cambodia

Article about MORU Youth Advisory Group in Cambodia.

Resource Guide: Stakeholder Engagement in Global Health Research

Community engagement and the centrality of ‘working relationships’ in health research

A rapid review of community engagement and informed consent processes for adaptive platform trials and alternative design trials for public health emergencies

The stories of '12 Remarkable African Life Scientists'

Webinar: Taking relationships seriously: Findings from a realist review of community engagement

This webinar held in May 2022 on the REAL Community Engagement Realist Review shared some fascinating findings which give more conceptual clarity around how community engagement works in practice. It highlighted some key relationships and power dynamics at the heart of engagement work.

Guide: Ethical dimensions of community engagement and involvement in global health research

This learning resource, from the UK's NIHR published in collaboration with the Institute of Development Studies, discusses the ethical dimensions to consider when engaging communities and involving patients in global health research. It was published in July 2021 reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Policy Briefing: Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic: ethical considerations

This policy briefing from The Nuffield Council on Bioethics sets out the key ethical considerations relevant to public health measures being introduced to manage the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK.

Guide: WHO Mental health and psychosocial considerations during the COVID-19 outbreak

The considerations presented in this document have been developed by the WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Use as a series of messages that can be used in communications to support mental and psychosocial well-being in different target groups during the COVID-19 pandemic

Published Report: Research in global health emergencies

This Nuffield Council on Bioethics report from January 2020 contains the findings of a two year in-depth inquiry. The aim was to identify ways in which research can be undertaken ethically during emergencies, in order to promote the contribution that ethically-conducted research can make to improving current and future emergency preparedness and response.

Guide: Global Code of Conduct for Research in Resource-Poor Settings

The Global Code of Conduct for Research in Resource-Poor Settings aims to stop the export of unethical research practices to low and middle income countries.

Guide: NIHR Resource Guide for CEI in Global Health Research

Researchers funded by the NIHR Global Health Research Programme are expected to involve patients and the public in planning, implementation and evaluation of their research. This resource guide provides community engagement links, resources, references and learning to offer research teams and funding applicants a starting point

Project Report: The Tak Province Border Community Ethics Advisory Board (T-CAB)

Minimum standards and indicators in engagement

eLearning: Ethics in epidemics, emergencies and disasters: Research, surveillance and patient care

This 7 module course offers comprehensive training exploring the wide range of ethical issues faced by health professionals and policy makers working in the context of epidemics/pandemics and disaster situations, focusing primarily on the key areas of research, surveillance and patient care.

Academic Literature: Whose knowledge counts? Exploring cognitive justice in community-university collaborations.

Engaging with Social justice: An Interview with Ceri Davies, Research Director, National Centre for Social Research

Academic Literature: Ethics of Randomized Trials in a Public Health Emergency

This paper briefly summarises the discussion of a committee which aimed to assess clinical trials conducted in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia during the 2014-15 Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Literature: Public Attitudes to Research Governance: A qualitative study in a deliberative context

This report, commissioned by the Wellcome Trust in 2006, presents the results of qualitative research exploring public attitudes towards the governance of biomedical research.

Published Literature: Public Attitudes to Personal Data and Linking Personal Data (2013)

The Wellcome Trust commissioned report from 2013 on the general public’s attitudes to different types of personal data and data linking. The research looked at whether health data are viewed differently from other types of data, and what are the perceived risks and benefits, to self and society, of linking different kinds of data for research and other purposes.

Published Literature: Politics of science communication in South Africa

This paper may be of interest to readers thinking about the local political and historical context and how this impacts on both science culture and the culture of science communication or public engagement within a country. This article focuses on South Africa although many of the considerations within it are likely to be pertinent in other countries which experienced colonialism. 

Developing Ethical Practices for Public Health Research Data Sharing in South Africa: The Views and Experiences From a Diverse Sample of Research Stakeholders

 This qualitative study examined the perceptions, experiences and concerns of 32 research stakeholders about data-sharing practices.

Red Cross's Jemilah Mahmood Offers 5 Principles for Improved Community Engagement During Humanitarian Action

Dr. Jemilah Mahmood, undersecretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies gave the keynote at the Medicine Sans Frontiere annual Scientific Day 2017.  Her message was that humanitarian work needs to work far closer with local populations before, during and after humanitarian action. She emphasises five key principles to achieving this all of which would be relevant to those working in engagement with research in low income settings as well as humanitarian aid workers.

Published Literature: Photovoice Ethics: Critical Reflections from Men’s Mental Health Research

Photovoice Ethics is a report and ethical guide for researchers who want to explore sensitive topics with their audiences.   

Workshop Report: ‘Community Engagement – Under the Microscope’ in Thailand in June 2011

A summary of a report exploring Community Engagement, what it means to global health researchers and its relationship to research ethics.