The Northeast Ethics Education Partnership(NEEP)

Dianne Quigley, Brown University

NSF-EESE Funded Project: 10/1/10- 09/30/13Renewed for 8/15/13-8/15/16(center panel heading)

NEEP Project Abstract (

NEEP and its collaborators have developed a new regional initiative for promoting research ethics/cultural competence and community-based research training for environmental science, environmental studies and engineering graduate students in central New York, Massachusetts and at Brown University, Providence, RI

Research Ethics Focus: Group Protections

Basic human subject protections are mainly regulated for individual human subjects without consideration for group or place-based identities and local contexts.

NBAC and other international guidelines (CIOMS) do make recommendations for cultural protections and protections for communities, mostly for assessing risks/benefits of research and publication/dissemination of results..

Community Protections/Beneficence in Environmental Sciences/Health In environmental sciences and health,

place-based communities and cultural groups will require special considerations in research ethics.

These ethical concerns can be addressed through improved ethics training for graduate students in these fields.

Ethical Concerns for Place-based Communities

Beneficence:

- Fair allocation of benefits for place-based communities as well as generalized beneficence and fair assessments of risks/burdens.

- Need for research approaches with more local benefits and long-term commitment to prolonged or chronic environmental management or health problems

Ethical Needs with Place-based Communities

Nonmaleficence:- Overcoming community or cultural exploitation, forms of stigmatization- Avoiding Inappropriate or harmful treatment, including culturally-inappropriate research- Avoiding forms of cultural ignorance, arrogance, ethnocentrism

Community-based Ethical Protections

Respect for Community (Informed Consent): - Need for community consultation or

partnership models for community approval or support with research needs.

- Need for specialized methods for community or individual consent

Ethical Needs with Place-based Communities

Justice:

- Need for intercultural methods, approaches and accommodating linguistic diversity needs, local knowledges and traditions. - Need for fair recruitment of research populations and fair representation and decision-making.

Need for data management and dissemination protocols with sensitive community or cultural data.

Realize that many disadvantaged communities or cultural groups are vulnerable groups in research requiring more protections.

(See training slide on Research Ethics Protections for Place-based Communities and Cultural Groups” for expanded discussion)

NEEP TRAINING GOALS

The Northeast Ethics Education Partnership (NEEP) has organized over thirty training slide shows to promote graduate student and faculty training with individual and group protections for place-based communities and cultural groups.

These training slides are incorporated into 4- 6 modules in short course or blended on-line training, using applied ethics articles and case studies from the appropriate fields of study.

Source: Hilary Rosenthal/The Brown Daily Herald

NEEP CURRICULUM TRAINING MODULES

MODULE ONE:Human Subjects Protections

Training in Human Subjects Protections and the Common Morality for Individuals, Groups, Communities and Ecosystems.

3 hour module (using slides, applied guidance, case studies and regulations for beneficence, nonmaleficence, respect for persons/informed consent and justice; customized to envir studies, engineering, soon for marine sciences).

Applying individual protections to group protections and extending respect for persons to communities.

MODULE TWO: Cultural Competence and Cultural Reflexivity

Training in Cultural Competence Theory and Cultural Reflexivity/Humility (cultural knowledge, cultural skill, cultural sensitivity, cultural humility, cultural desire – applying these to field studies in environmental and engineering research).

Photo by Kwintessential UK

3 hours - theory and case studies from culturally-diverse field studies in environmental studies and sciences

Informed Consent with Cultural Considerations

Intercultural Emphasis: Review of culturally-appropriate research approaches and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK).

MODULE THREE: Community-based Research: Collaborative and Partnership Models

Training in community-based and participatory theory from environmental health, natural resource management, conservation biology, sustainability, marine sciences and engineering.

4 hour module with theory and case studies from eight environmental disciplines

MODULE FOUR: Working with Communities of Identity and Community Capacities

Training in Defining Communities of Identity (Who is the Community for Collaborative Forestry, Fishing, Engineering Projects)

Measuring Community Capacities for Research Engagement.

3 hour module using theory and case studies from environmental fields.

Source: Diana Themath

MODULE FIVEResearch Integrity and Selected Topics

.Training in Research Integrity and

Scientific Misconduct in environmental and engineering research (data falsification, fabrication, plagiarism, authorship, conflict of interest).

Training in Ethical Theories of Justice (liberal-individualism, deontology, utilitarianism, consequentialism, communitarianism, care ethics, virtue ethics, and postmodern ethics)

Other Selected Topics for Modules

Training in Intellectual Property Rights, Software Proprietary Rights, Free and Prior Informed Consent

Training in Privacy and Confidentiality, Data Management

Training in Animal Protections

Training in Environmental Justice, Environmental Ethics

Training in Sustainability and Ethics for Engineering, Marine Sciences, and Environmental Sciences

Course Syllabi and Materials

Course Syllabi - Also for review are short courses and long semester courses on research ethics, culture and community-based research.

Course Readers or Blackboard/MyCourse On-line or Blended Training can be developed with specific modules and case studies and applied ethics articles and regulatory guidance.

Student Incentives: Research Ethics Certificate, stipends, 1-3 academic credits.

Teaching Methods with Grad Students

Conversational powerpoint lectures, case analysis with students in small groups or as a class, community/field researchers as speakers, youtube/film presentations.

Student presentations from research Student research with assigned short

essays and final paper, doing mock IRB application or ethical/cultural/CBPR analyses of cases.

Outreach to Faculty for Teaching Resources

One on one faculty meetings: co-create or follow advice for specific slide show designs, may require cases and articles related to specific disciplines or locations. Assist faculty in organizing ethical dilemmas in their disciplines and identifying training needs to deal with these dilemmas.

In class presentations: contact teaching faculty to insert one or more presentations in their regular course offerings.

Faculty Outreach

Faculty Teaching Data-base: provide access to teaching slides and articles/cases for each faculty’s use in the classroom; Blackboard Page.

Series of Luncheon Workshops: recruiting multiple speakers covering research ethics, culture and community-based topics.

Listservs of Faculty: Advertise training resources to faculty through

emails.

Student Outreach/Recruitment

Student recruitment has been conducted through encouragement from faculty advisors, through email listserv announcements, flyers posted in academic departments, special campus-wide seminars to attract students, also class visits to inform students of course training.

Brown CES and SUNY-ESF Training Activities (2010-2014)

Course Training in “Ethics, Culture and Community-based Research”

Three one credit spring semester courses (2011-2014)

Three summer 3-day workshops for graduate students at SUNY- ESF and other universities in the central NY (2011-2014).

Ongoing faculty outreach/mentoring

IN CLASS WORKSHOPS

Brown CES Campus Training(2010-present)

CES graduate student mentoring workshops in-person and on-line Blackboard (Canvas) training.

Certificate of Completion in Research

Ethics and Cultural Competence Self-Paced Online Training (campus-wide enrollment – 29 students )

Annual workshops and faculty mentoring outreach

NEEP Partnership Outcomes

Over 225 grad students were trained at both campuses.

10 grad students were research assistants.

Grad students also received Certificates of Completion for Research Ethics and Cultural Competence Training (15- 20 hours of training)

Train-the-trainer" national workshops

Held at ten national professional annual meetings in the environmental sciences and studies to share resources with participating faculty and graduate students for research ethics/cultural competence training

60 total faculty participated.

New Partnership Activities: Brown CES- NEEP and UMASS-Dartmouth ( 2013-2016)

New Course Development/Implementation

UMASS-Dartmouth, Bioengineering

Spring 2014: EAS 602, EGR 501

“ETHICS FOR ENGINEERS” - 10 graduate students enrolled for on-line

training and one credit course with five modules

Engineering Ethics Modules

- Overview of Ethics and Engineering Ethics

- Human Subjects and Animal Ethics Protections

- Research and Professional Integrity - Intellectual Property Rights and Data Management - Sustainability and Engineering Ethics

(incorporating cultural competence, environmental justice and community-based partnerships)

UMASS- DARTMOUTH BIOENGINEERING AND MARINE SCIENCES (SMAST)

“MARINE SCIENCE AND ETHICS”

Fall 2014, MAR 599, Three Credit Blended Course

Topics in research integrity, human/animal subjects, ethics of modeling, ethics of marine/fishing governance, marine pollution and sustainability ethics, and intellectual property rights, community-based collaborations and cultural relativity.

Brown CES - NEEP and Northeastern University (NEU), Boston

On-Line Training to be Underway:

“Ethics, Culture and Community-based Research for Environmental Studies and Sciences” for Certificate of Completion for Graduate Students (Spring/Summer semesters, 2014 on)

Online “ Ethics for Engineers” for Certificate of Completion for Graduate Students (Summer 2014 on).

NEU Marine and Environmental Sciences

New 2 credit course in Marine Science Ethics

Topics in research integrity, human/animal subjects, ethics of modeling, ethics of marine/fishing governance, marine pollution and sustainability ethics, and intellectual property rights, community-based collaborations and cultural relativity.

ONGOING NEU TRAINING ACTIVITES

Webinars for Research Ethics Topical Trainings through Superfund Research Project.

Campus-Wide Workshops for Topical Research Ethics, Culture and Community-based Research Training

Northeast Ethics Education Partnership Website

A NEEP project website(www.brown.edu/research/research-ethics

)

with research ethics/cultural competence and CBPR powerpoints training slide shows (over 30 training topics), syllabi and bibliographies.

Achieving national and international resource dissemination to hundreds of faculty/grad students.

NEEP Project Impacts

With this increased visibility and broad dissemination of available training materials database and training venues, NEEP provides the resources needed to

Advance graduate researcher skills in complex settings with diverse cultural groups, communities and ecosystems.

NEEP is improving sensitivity and equity in research approaches, and providing models for graduate students

to improve designs, methods and outcomes in place-based research with cultural groups

Acknowledgement

NEEP is funded through the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Ethics Education in Science and Engineering (EESE) from 2010 to 2016.

NEEP Project Faculty

Dianne Quigley, PhD, Principal Investigator, Brown University, RI

David Sonnenfeld, PhD, Sub-Award Principal Investigator, SUNY-ESF, Syracuse, NY, Environmental Studies

Phil Brown, PhD, Co-investigator, subaward principal investigator, Northeastern University, Sociology

Tracie Ferreira, PhD. Subcontract PI, UMASS-Dartmouth, Bioengineering

Sankha Bohmick, PhD, co-investigator UMASS-Dartmouth, Engineering

Tom Sheehan, PhD, co-investigator,Engineering, NEU

Geoffrey Trussell,PhD, co-investigator, Enviromental Studies and Marine Science, NEU

Linda Silka, PhD. University of Maine, Consultant

Julianne Hanavan, PhD. Brown University, Consultant

Ernest Wallwork, PhD. Bioethics Consultant, Syracuse University

Phil Arnold, PhD. Consultant, Syracuse University

Contact: Dianne Quigley, Dianne_Quigley_1@brown.edu

Contact InformationDianne Quigley, PhDAdjunct Assistant Professor

Dianne Quigley, PhDAdjunct Assistant ProfessorNEEP Principal Investigator Center for Environmental StudiesBrown UniversityPO Box 1943, 135 Angell St.Providence, RI 02912Dianne_Quigley_1@brown.edu

NEEPethics@yahoo.comhttp://brown.edu/research/research-ethics/neep

Marine Science Ethics Modules

The following slides are a description of our new training emphases in marine science ethics.

Marine Science Course: Marine Ethics Issues

Ethics and Modeling for Fishing Regulations, Marine Species and Habitat Sustainability

Ethics of Fishing Governance

Marine Environmental Ethics

Marine Sustainability

Recent literature discusses ethical obligations in modeling the complexity of ocean, coastal and estuarine ecosystems as assemblages of biota, chemical processes and physical dynamics, influenced by human and environmental activities which are often nonlinear and include varied feedback systems.

Ethics of Modeling for Fisheries

Applied Ethics Guidance for Modeling: Consensus from Researchers

Models must be tested on historical data, must be scrutinized in a collaborative peer review process, and will require an evaluation of possible errors.

What is the purpose of the model, what are management needs for models and who is represented in the model-making?

What is the integrity of data being used in the models

Complexity, Uncertainty and Values

Is the data gathered from a handful of species vs. a broader representation of a diversity of species, how is the need to account for increasing complexity balanced with increasing uncertainty?

How can increasing complexity and concurrent uncertainty be honestly handled to overcome violations of research or professional integrity?

Values are inherent in any model so that rigorous model evaluation is needed for model-builders and model-users.

Common Morality and Models

Principles of the common morality must take precedence so that models developed consider safety, accuracy, nonmaleficence .

In some cases, informed consent is needed from those who are directly at risk from modeling.

Justice Perspectives for Models

Perspectives from utilitarian justice vs. deontological (distributive justice) are relevant in the implied impacts of certain models.

Research integrity and scientific misconduct cases in marine sciences illustrate the need for strong ethical obligations in scientific modeling of marine research topics

Ethical Challenges: Fishing Governance

Some ethical challenges and obligations to consider in fishing governance include the reliability of knowledge assumptions about fish stocks (academic knowledge vs. local fisher knowledge),

Issues of fair representation on government committees that oversee regulatory activities (is power shared among stakeholders in a fair determination)?

Fairness Determinations

How is the collective decision-making fair and objective, how is compliance and enforcement ethically conducted?

What are determinations of fairness in research and knowledge generation,( i.e. research grant funding)?

Co-Management, Participatory Approaches

What discourse ethics are needed in these settings?

What are participatory strategies for fair governance,

What are ethical benefits/risk in co-management strategies and participatory fishing?

Marine Environmental Ethics What are contemporary ethical perspectives

and consensus regulations for marine conservation and species preservation?

Anthropocentric (human utilitarian value) and biocentric (intrinsic value) perspectives/demands have emerged from many diverse sectors such as marine ecologists, environmentalists, industrial fisheries, governance bodies, and animal rights activists?

International Conventions

What international and national bodies are governing marine conservation, what are significant policy recommendations from such bodies as: United Nations Law of the Sea, Convention of Biological Diversity, FAO Codes of Conduct for responsible fisheries?

Marine Sustainability Ethics

Research underway on coastal management issues with sustainability.

Other issues: energy development, climate change impacts on marine environments.

Marine Environmental Ethics

What are continued pressures on endangered and recovering species (sea mammals – whales, dolphins, seals,..)?

What are benefits and risks of ecosystem-based approaches to fisheries vs. single-species approaches?

Conservation Decision-making

How are stakeholders involved in conservation decisions, who are affected human communities?

What are ethical obligations to these human communities and marine species?

NEEP TRAINING MODULES for NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL DISSEMINATION

NEEP Publications:

Quigley, D. (2014) Promoting Human Subjects Training for Place-based Communities and Cultural Groups in Environmental Research – Curriculum Approaches for Graduate Student/Faculty Training. Science and Engineering Ethics, January.

NEEP Project Impacts

With this increased visibility and broad dissemination of available training materials database and training venues, NEEP provides the resources needed to

Advance graduate researcher skills in complex settings with diverse cultural groups, communities and ecosystems.

NEEP is improving sensitivity and equity in research approaches, and providing models for graduate students

to improve designs, methods and outcomes in place-based research with cultural groups

Acknowledgement

NEEP is funded through the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Ethics Education in Science and Engineering (EESE) from 2010 to 2016.

NEEP Project Faculty

Dianne Quigley, PhD, Principal Investigator, Brown University, RI

David Sonnenfeld, PhD, Sub-Award Principal Investigator, SUNY-ESF, Syracuse, NY, Environmental Studies

Phil Brown, PhD, Co-investigator, subaward principal investigator, Northeastern University, Sociology

Tracie Ferreira, PhD. Subcontract PI, UMASS-Dartmouth, Bioengineering

Sankha Bohmick, PhD, co-investigator UMASS-Dartmouth, Engineering

Tom Sheehan, PhD, co-investigator,Engineering, NEU

Geoffrey Trussell,PhD, co-investigator, Enviromental Studies and Marine Science, NEU

Linda Silka, PhD. University of Maine, Consultant

Julianne Hanavan, PhD. Brown University, Consultant

Ernest Wallwork, PhD. Bioethics Consultant, Syracuse University

Phil Arnold, PhD. Consultant, Syracuse University

Contact: Dianne Quigley, Dianne_Quigley_1@brown.edu