EMBL Forum Science and Society Seminar: Rachel Douglas-Jones

Ethical Review Goes Global: Learning the arts of a good ethical review - Rachel Douglas-Jones 25 April 2017

Ethical review has been integrated into what counts as ‘good science’. But what constitutes a ‘good’ ethical review? And what kind of model of decision-making is it? Since the early 2000s, capacity building in ethical review has been a priority in Europe and the USA, driven by an increase in collaborative and multi-sited clinical trials producing data in a range of settings. This presentation explores the growth in research ethics committees in the Asia-Pacific region, drawing on multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork with a WHO-TDR funded non-governmental organisation, the Forum of Ethics Review Committees of Asia and the Pacific. The NGO, based in Bangkok, works to build capacity in ethical review, networking and training committees in ethics principles and practices.

Established in 1998, the principal aim of the Science and Society initiative at EMBL is to promote a better and broader understanding of the growing social and cultural relevance of the life sciences. The EMBL Forum serves as an arena for multidisciplinary events and activities highlighting the ways in which recent developments within the life sciences in general, and within molecular biology in particular, are having a profound impact on people, their societies as well as their cultures. We invite speakers – experts within various disciplines of science and the humanities – on a regular basis to the EMBL to give public lectures on topics of interest.