Work Package 4:

Roadmap for a common EU ethics assessment framework

  • Deliverable 4.1: A reasoned proposal for a set of shared ethical values and principles for ethics assessment in the European context

    Task Leader: UT

    • A reasoned proposal for shared approaches to ethics assessment in the European context

      This report presents a comprehensive proposal for a common ethics assessment framework for research and innovation (R&I) in the European Union member states. It details recommendations for good practices for ethics assessment, which includes the development of ethics assessment units and the protocols of these units. More specifically, the report presents a general toolkit for ethics assessment of R&I, as well as specialised tools and toolkits for specific types of organizations that deal with ethics assessment, and for different scientific fields.

    • Annex 1: A Common Framework for Ethical Impact Assessment

      • 1.1 A Common Framework for Ethical Impact Assessment

        This report presents a comprehensive methodology for conducting an ethical impact assessment (EIA) in research and innovation (R&I) projects. Because of the increasing potential of R&I outcomes such a novel technologies to impact people’s lives and society as a whole, there is an increasing need for not only assessing the ethics of the research procedure (as is done in conventional research ethics) but also for anticipating, determining, evaluating and, if possible, overcoming ethical impacts of research outcomes. Incorporating a procedure called ethical impact assessment in the R&I process can assist in doing so.

    • Annex 2: Standards, tools and best practices for policy-oriented assessment and guidance of new developments and practices in research and innovation

    • Annex 3: Standards, tools and best practices for guiding, assessing and supporting ethical professional behaviour by scientists and innovators

      • 3.1 Standards, tools and best practices for guiding, assessing and supporting ethical professional behaviour by scientists and innovators

        The aim of this report is to make recommendations regarding standards for guiding, assessing and supporting ethical professional behaviour by scientists and innovators. Ethical professional behaviour is defined as a part of research ethics, specifically aimed at ethical principles, applicable to the conduct of individual scientists and innovators. The report examines the practices of guidance of ethical professional behaviour, as performed by professional associations, science academies, universities, and other organisations, as well as the practices of assessment of ethical behaviour, as done by integrity boards and other organisations, whose aim is to investigate the allegations of research misconduct.

    • Annex 4: Standards, tools and best practices for the ethics assessment of innovation and technology development plans

      • 4.1 Standards, tools and best practices for the ethics assessment of innovation and technology development plans

        This brief report investigates the specific demands placed on practices of the ethics assessment by different innovation and technology development plans and projects, as performed by, for example, research ethics committees (RECs) for engineering at universities, in industry or elsewhere. We focus on the ethical impact assessment (EIA) approach as described in SATORI Deliverable D4.1. However, we also address the limitations of EIA and propose alternative methods of ethics assessment. This report does not analyse the institutional setup of ethics assessment in relation to innovation and technology development plans and projects. We will map and analyse actors engaged in the development of these plans and projects in the broader report on proposals for the institutional structure of ethics assessment in the EU and its nation states (4.3.2).

    • Annex 5: Models for Ethics Assessment and Guidance in Higher Education

      • 5.1 Models for Ethics Assessment and Guidance in Higher Education

        This report will investigate best practices for developing ethics assessment and guidance in universities, through research ethics committees (RECs), institutional policies, scientific integrity boards, teaching and training, and other means. The objective is to identify different means by which universities may promote and regulate consideration of ethical aspects of research and innovation within their institutions, and to make recommendations on the means that are most adequate and the ways in which they may be implemented. The report subsequently considers goals for ethics at universities, pathways for advancing ethics at universities, ethics codes and protocols, scientific integrity boards and codes, ethics assessment and research ethics committees, and ethics teaching and training. It ends with a summary of the recommendations of earlier sections.

    • Annex 6: Models for ethics assessment and guidance at CSOs

      • 6.1 Models for ethics assessment and guidance at CSOs

        This report is the result of work on Task 4.2.5. The aim of this report is to investigate how Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) can effectively become involved in ethics assessment and guidance, both formally and informally. Most of the discussion will be based on the SATORI Deliverable 1, Annex 3.g report on Civil Society Organisations and the Deliverable 4.1 reports, particularly report 4.1.3 on ethics assessment (EA) procedures. Additionally, literature on CSOs related ethics assessment as well as interviews with CSOs representatives will be consulted.

    • Annex 7: Models for ethics assessment and guidance in industry

    • Annex 8: Models for ethics assessment at research funding organisations

    • Annex 9: Proposals for the institutional structure of ethics assessment in the EU and its constituent countries

  • Deliverable 4.2: Outline of an Ethics Assessment Framework

    Task Leader: UT

    • Outline of an Ethics Assessment Framework

      This is a summary of a larger report (Deliverable 4.1) that presents the outline of an ethics assessment framework for research and innovation (R&I) in the European Union member states. It roughly
      follows the organisation of the larger report.

  • Deliverable 4.3: Roadmap towards adoption of a fully developed ethics assessment framework

    Task Leader: UT

    • Roadmap towards adoption of a fully developed ethics assessment framework

      The aim of the SATORI roadmap process was to work out how the SATORI ethics
      assessment framework can be implemented in practice. The timespan of the roadmap was set at 10 years. To begin, a vision of a future in which the SATORI framework is implemented was formulated. Theories about the implementation of new social practices were subsequently studied, and a model for the implementation of the SATORI framework was constructed. This model was then used as the basis for identifying the steps (or outcomes) that need to be taken in order to realise the vision. Finally, these steps were fleshed out by listing recommendations and associated actions that need to be taken by various stakeholder groups that are involved in ethics assessment of research and innovation.