Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality - Chapter 34 - Humanitarian research ethics and the ethics of research in humanitarian settings
This week we are taking a closer look at Chapter 34 - Humanitarian research ethics and the ethics of research in humanitarian settings - contributed by Shashika Bandara, Elyse Rafaela A. Conde, Abeer Dakik and Matthew Hunt.
From the introduction
Research plays critical roles for better understanding and responding to humanitarian crises. It can yield knowledge about the nature and extent of the impact from disasters, armed conflict, and displacement, and the needs and experiences of the populations that are affected. Such knowledge can support efforts to improve the structures and processes of humanitarian aid provision. Yet, humanitarian research also presents practical and methodological challenges. Whether implemented with a focus on improving humanitarian operations or with broader goals for knowledge generation, designing and implementing research that is responsive to the realities of a crisis setting, engaging effectively with communities, and, in some contexts, developing knowledge quickly can be difficult to achieve (Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences, 2016). Research in crisis settings also raises questions of how to include members of affected populations in the design and conduct of research, effectively mobilise the knowledge that has been developed, and address situations where findings are coopted for political ends (Tierney, 2019). Research efforts might also impede relief efforts in a humanitarian setting, or research participants may not understand the distinction between research and aid programs (Ahmad and Mahmud, 2010). These features all have ethical implications. Indeed, humanitarian research raises a distinctive set of ethical questions and poses challenges for standard models of ethics review and oversight (Mezinska et al., 2016). Attention to humanitarian research ethics is thus a key foundation for implementing research in crisis settings while demonstrating respect, attending to justice, and upholding the dignity of study participants and all stakeholders involved.
Note on contributors
Shashika Bandara is a doctoral candidate focusing on global health policy and governance at McGill University. He holds a masters in global health from Duke University and was a policy associate at Centre for Policy Impact in Global Health at the Duke Global Health Institute.
His previous experiences include working in humanitarian settings of post-conflict regions in Sri Lanka and on human rights in South Asia. He is interested in addressing attacks on healthcare and improving humanitarian research.
Elyse Rafaela A. Conde is a researcher, advocate, and development worker who has been involved in the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) landscape since 2014. Through her engagement with Philippine civil society as well as vulnerable sectors, she has been able to document and share lived experiences of disasters across various levels – most especially at the grassroots – through myriad stories, papers, and studies. She continues to work as a freelance researcher, undertaking projects aimed at enabling community resilience and development.
Abeer Dakik is an administrator and a full member of the Biomedical Institutional Review Board at the American University of Beirut (AUB), where she has been working since 2009.
Ms Dakik earned her BS in Nursing and a master’s degree in Epidemiology from AUB. She now serves as an expert in regulatory matters that apply to human subject protection in biomedical research.
Matthew Hunt is professor at McGill University’s School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, and a researcher at the Centre for Research on Ethics and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation.
He conducts research at the intersections of ethics, rehabilitation, and global health, and is co-lead of the Humanitarian Health Ethics Research Group.
Overviews are already available for the following chapters:
Introduction: humanitarianism and inequality – a re-orientation
Humanitarianism and colonialism
Humanitarianism and the global Cold War, 1945–1991
Humanitarianism and the new wars: humanitarianism, security, and securitisation
Humanitarianism, development and peace: a southern perspective
Localisation and the humanitarian sector
Human rights and humanitarianism
Humanitarian organisations: behemoths and butterflies
Faith actors in humanitarianism: dynamics and inequalities
Diaspora assistance
Political solidarity movements and humanitarianism: lessons from Catalonia, Spain (1975–2020)
Subversive humanitarianism
Citizen’s groups and grassroots humanitarianism
Humanitarianism and the military
Race, racialisation, and coloniality in the humanitarian aid sector
Humanitarian organisations as gendered organisations
Sexuality and humanitarianism: colonial ‘hauntings’
Class matters in humanitarianism
Humanitarianism and disability
Media representations of humanitarianism
Humanitarianism and pandemics
Humanitarian technologies
Linguistic inequality in the humanitarian sector: unravelling English-centric multilingualism
Climate change, disasters and humanitarian action
Refugee protection and assistance
Trafficking in persons, long-term vulnerabilities, and humanitarianism
Humanitarianism and Native America
Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific Regions
International humanitarianism in East Asia
West Asia and North Africa
Africa’s long fight for humanitarian self-sufficiency
The Latin American experience: inequality's role in shaping humanitarianism
Varieties of European humanitarianism
Comments
Post a Comment