Abstract
A collaborative team of environmental sociologists, community psychologists, religious studies scholars, environmental studies/science researchers and engineers has been working together to design and implement new training in research ethics, culture and community-based approaches for place-based communities and cultural groups. The training is designed for short and semester-long graduate courses at several universities in the northeastern US. The team received a 3 year grant from the US National Science Foundation’s Ethics Education in Science and Engineering in 2010. This manuscript details the curriculum topics developed that incorporate ethical principles, particularly for group protections/benefits within the field practices of environmental/engineering researchers.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Please see p.11 for instructions to accessing these slides.
References
Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments. (1995). Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
Almany, G. R., Hamilton, R. J., Williamson, D. H., Evans, R. D., Jones, G. P., Matawai, M., et al. (2010). Research partnerships with local communities: Two case studies from Papua New Guinea and Australia. Coral Reefs, 29, 567–576.
Ansari, A. (2001). The greening of engineers: A cross-cultural experience. Science and Engineering Ethics, 7, 105–115.
Arqette, M., Cole, M., Cook, K., La France, B., Peters, M., Ransom, J., et al. (2002). Holistic risk-based environmental decision-making: A native perspective. Environmental Health Perspective, 110(Suppl. 2), 259–264.
Athanassoulis, N., & Ross, A. (2010). The social nature of engineering and its implications for risk taking. Science and Engineering Ethics, 16, 147–168.
Barnbaum, D., & Byron, M. (2001). Research ethics, text and readings. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Press.
Beauchamp, T., & Childress, J. (2009). Principles of biomedical ethics. London: Oxford University.
Bengston, D. N., Schermann, M., Moua, M., & Lee, T. T. (2008). Listening to neglected voices: Hmong and public lands in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Society and Natural Resources, 21, 876–899.
Bento, S. F., Hardy, E., & Jose Duarte Osis, M. (2008). Process for obtaining informed consent: Women’s opinions. Developing World Bioethics, 8, 197–206.
Brugge, D., et al. (2005). Susceptibility of elderly Asian immigrants to persuasion with respect to participation in research. Journal of Immigrant Health, 7(2), 93–101.
Campinha-Bacote, J. (2002). The process of cultural competence in the delivery of health care services: A model of care. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 13, 181.
Chen, D. T., Jones, L., & Gelberg, L. (2006). Ethics of clinical research within a community-academic partnered participatory framework. Ethnicity and Disease, 16, S118.
Coughlin, S. (2006). Ethical issues in epidemiological research and public health practice. Emerging Themes in Epidemiology, 3, 16. doi:10.1186/1742-7622-3-16.
Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS). (1991/2008). International ethical guidelines for biomedical research involving human subjects. Geneva.
Dangles, O., Carpio, F. C., Villares, M., Yumisaca, F., Liger, B., Rebaudo, F., et al. (2010). Community-based participatory research helps farmers and scientists to manage invasive pests in the Ecuadorian Andes. Ambio, 39(4), 325–335.
Davenport, M., Leahy, J. E., Anderson, D. H., & Jakes, P. J. (2007). Building trust in natural resource management within local communities: A case study of the Midewin National Tallgrass Prarie. Environmental Management, 39, 353–368.
Denny, C., & Grady, C. (2007). Clinical research with economically disadvantaged populations. Journal of Medical Ethics, 33(7), 382–385.
Emanuel, E., Wendler, D., Killen, J., Grady, C. (2004). What makes clinical research in developing countries ethical? The benchmarks of ethical research. Journal of Infectious Disease, 189, 930–937.
Engels, J. M. M., Dempewolf, H., & Henson-Apollonio, V. (2011). Ethical considerations in agro-biodiversity research, collecting, and use. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 24, 107–126.
Faden, R., & Beauchamp, T. (1986). A history and theory of informed consent. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Foster, M. W., Bernstein, D., & Carter, T. H. (1998). A model agreement for genetic research in socially identifiable populations. American Journal of Human Genetics, 63(3), 696–702.
Foster, M. W., Sharp, R., Freeman, W., Chino, M., Bernsten, D., & Carter, T. (1999). The role of community review in evaluating the risks of human genetic variation research. American Journal of Human Genetics, 64, 1720.
Frey, W. J., & O’Neill-Carrillo, E. (2008). Engineering ethics in Puerto Rico: Issues and narratives. Science and Engineering Ethics, 14, 417–431.
Gbadegesin, S., & Wendler, D. (2006). Protecting communities from exploitation. Bioethics, 20(5), 248.
Harding, A., Harper, B., Stone, D., O’Neill, C., Berger, P., Harris, S., et al. (2012). Conducting research with tribal communities: Sovereignty, ethics, and data-sharing issues (Commentary). Environmental Health Perspectives, 120(1), 6–10.
Harris, C. E., Jr. (2008). The good engineer: Giving virtue its due in engineering ethics. Science and Engineering Ethics, 14, 153–164.
Howard, J. L. (2010). Managing for justice in community-based water planning: A conceptual framework. Environmental Conservation, 37(3), 356–363.
Howard, C., Andrade, S. J., & Byrd, T. (2001). The ethical dimensions of cultural competence in border health care settings. Family and Community Health, 23(4), 38.
Hyder, A. A., Wali, S. A., Kahn, A. N., Teoh, N. B., Kass, N. E., & Dawson, L. (2004). Ethical review of health research: A perspective from developing country researchers. Journal of Medical Ethics, 30(1), 68–72. www.jstor.org/stable.
International Labor Organization. (1989). Binding international labor organization’s convention No. 169. http://www.ilo.org/indigenous/Conventions/no169/lang--en/index.htm
International Society for Ethnobiology. (2006). International society for ethnobiology code of ethics. http://ise.arts.ubc.ca/global_coalition/ethics.php.
Lavery, J., Grady, C., Wahl, E., & Emanuel, E. (2007). Ethical issues in international biomedical research: A casebook. London: Oxford University Press.
Lynch, W. T., & Ronald, K. (2000). Engineering practice and engineering ethics. Science Technology Human Values, 25, 195. http://www.jstor.org.
Manion, M. (2002). Ethics, engineering and sustainable development. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, 21(3), 39–48.
Marsh, H., & Richard, K. (2004). The role of ethics in experimental marine biology and ecology. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 300, 5–14.
Martin, K. S., & Hall-Arber, M. (2008). Creating a place for “Community” in New England fisheries. Human Ecology Review, 15(2), 161–170.
Matthew, D. (2008). Race, religion, and informed consent: Lessons from social science. Journal of Law, Medicine, & Ethics, 36(1), 150–173.
Measham, T. G., Richards, C., Robinson, C. J., Larson, S., & Brakes, L. (2011). Genuine community engagement in remote dryland regions: Natural resource management in Lake Eyre basin. Geographical Research, 49(2), 171–182.
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). (1976). Geneva, Switzerland. www.ohchr.org.
Oguz, N. Y. (2003). Research ethics committees in developing countries and informed consent: With special reference to Turkey. Journal of Laboratory Clinical Medicine, 141(5), 292–296.
Prokopy, L. S. (2008). Ethical concerns in researching collaborative natural resource management. Society and Natural Resources, 21, 258–265.
Quigley, D. (2006). A review of ethical improvements to environmental/public health research: Case examples from native communities. Journal of Health Education, 33(2), 130–147.
Schrag, B. (2009). Piercing the veil: Ethical issues in ethnographic research. Science and Engineering Ethics, 15, 135–160.
Sharp, R., & Foster, M. (2002). Ethical issues in environmental health research. Environmental Health Perspectives, 1210(2), 1786–1788.
Smith, L. S. (1998). Concept analysis: Cultural competence. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 5(1), 4–10.
Swierstra, T., & Katinka, W. (2010). Designing a good life: A matrix for the technological mediation of morality. Science and Engineering Ethics, 18(1), 157–172.
Taylor, H. A., Faden, R. R., & Kass, N. E. (2008). The ethics of public health research. Moral obligations to communities. International Encyclopedia of Public Health, Elsevier, pp. 496–503.
Thering, S. (2011). A methodology for a scholarship of transdisciplinary action research in the design professions: Lessons from Indian country. Landscape Journal, Project Muse.
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. (2003). Universal declaration on bioethics and human rights. www.unesco.org/...human.../bioethics/bioethics-and-human-rights.2003
United States National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. (1978). The belmont report. Ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research. Bethesda, MD: The Commission.
van De Poel, I. (2001). Investigating ethical issues in engineering design. Science and Engineering Ethics, 7, 429–446.
Vreeman, R., Kamaara, E., Kamanda, A., Ayuki, D., Nyandiko, W., Atwoli, L., Ayaya, S., Gisore, P., Scanlon, M., Braitstein, P. (2012). A qualitative study using traditional community assemblies to investigate community perspectives on informed consent and research participation in Western Kenya. BMC Medical Ethics, 13, 23.
Waste for Life. (2009). Weblog journal of activities in Buenos Aires: 2007–2009. Accessed June 2009, from www.wasteforlife.org.
World Health Organization. (2000). Operational guidelines for ethics committees that review biomedical research. Geneva, Switzerland. www.who.int/tdr/...guidelines.../operational-guidelines-ethics.
Acknowledgments
The NEEP Project gratefully acknowledges the support of the National Science Foundation’s Ethics Education in Science and Engineering (EESE) Program Grant Geo-1032754. The author would like to thank these colleagues, scholars and graduate students for their contributions to the NEEP progress to date: for teaching, evaluation and program planning support, David A. Sonnenfeld, Ph.D., Professor of Environmental Studies, SUNY-ESF, and subcontract principal investigator; Phil Brown, Ph.D., co-principal investigator from Brown University (2010–2012) and Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Northeastern University (2013); and Linda Silka, Ph.D., Professor of Economics, University of Maine. Also, for assistance with materials review/development and dissemination, NEEP thanks Thomas Amidon, Professor of Engineering, Neil Ringler, Ph.D., Associate Provost of Research, Russ Briggs, Ph.D., Director, Division of Environmental Science, Valerie Luzadis, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Environmental Studies, SUNY-ESF; Ernest Wallwork, Ph.D. and Phillip Arnold, Ph.D., Professors of Religion, Syracuse University; Sheila Bonde, Ph.D., Professor of History of Art/Architecture, Brown University; Janet Blume, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Engineering at Brown University, J. Timmons Roberts, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Brown University, and graduate research assistants, Monique Reeser and Kelly Bancroft from SUNY-ESF Environmental Studies; Soonki Lee, Dept. of Religion, Syracuse University; and Rebecca Keane, Deanna Talerico, Taryn Martinez, Brianna Craft, and Linlang He, Brown University Center for Environmental Studies.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Quigley, D. Promoting Human Subjects Training for Place-Based Communities and Cultural Groups in Environmental Research: Curriculum Approaches for Graduate Student/Faculty Training. Sci Eng Ethics 21, 209–226 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-013-9508-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-013-9508-6