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Common priorities and to inspire policy strategy to promote responsible global governance of research.

Ethical standards in increasingly global research
Globalisation in research presents many new opportunities for researchers in terms of international collaboration, but what about the persons participating in research: are the standards of protection rising or falling as a result of globalisation? This will be one of the key issues addressed at the international conference on “Ethics, Research & Globalisation” which will be hosted by the European Commission in Brussels on 14-15 May 2007.
The overall objective of the conference is to identify common priorities and to inspire policy strategy to promote responsible global governance of research. On the basis of the outcome of the conference, the European Commission will identify specific actions to be carried out to remedy specific problems and respond to needs in partner countries.

The conference will be attended by representatives of international organisations (Council of Europe, UNESCO, UNAIDS, WHO), governments from around the world, research organisations, academics and pharmaceuticals companies from developed countries, emerging economies and developing countries, to share information and examples of best practice for mechanisms used for ethical review when allocating research funding.

Existing support to research ethics

The EU has already supported capacity-building and other actions to support the development of ethical standards for research worldwide. Examples include:

Genomics and benefit-sharing with developing countries – from Biodiversity to Human Genomics (GENBENEFIT): this projects creates a research network with France, Lithuania, UK, India, South Africa and Philippines, looking at issues relating to benefit sharing of genomics research particularly in the areas of human genetic banking for the purpose of pharmacogenomics or population genomics research, and use by the pharmaceutical industry of traditional knowledge from indigenous communities. The team will analyse four case studies, in South Africa, India, Iceland and Kenya, and use their research to develop an "ethics health check" for benefit-sharing agreements.

Networking for ethics on Biomedical Research in Africa (NEBRA): created to understand ethical issues arising in individual African countries, and to identify people already involved in reviewing ethics of research and what their needs are, working with institutions in Benin, Gabon, the Gambia and Mali and looking at the situation in 15 African countries.

European and Developing Countries Ethics Partnership (EDCEP), which carried out training and capacity-building workshops in South Africa and Indonesia and is now working with the WHO to establish research ethics committees, linked to the on-going European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership. The project is coordinated by the University of Bergen in Norway, with the Centre for Science, Society and Citizenship in Rome.

Genomics and benefit-sharing with developing countries (BESHA): Working with indigenous peoples, ethicists, social scientists, lawyers and geneticists from UK, Mexico, South Africa and the Philippines to examine whether the existing international guidelines that cover the ethics of genomics research are adequate.

Future policy direction

The discussions at the conference will provide input to future Commission policy in a variety of areas:

Better co-operation among institutions: the involvement of several international organisations and different policy areas of the Commission will lead to a more coordinated approach at European and global level to the development of ethics in research and responsible governance of research.

Future actions under the research framework programme: support within FP7 could focus on setting up workshops, strengthening regional networks and promoting "twinning".

Building on past experience: Those who have participated in existing research activities will be able to share their experiences and pool their knowledge, thus increasing the value of their participation and improving their activities once back home.

Validation of existing networks: The Forum of National Ethics Committees and European Network of Research Ethics Committees will participate fully in the debate, and will be able to make available at a global level their considerable experience in managing ethical issues in research.

Release link: http://www.jrc.cec.eu.int/welcome.htm