The project “An interdisciplinary database of ethics dumping cases” was awarded the 2023/24 Sasha Kagansky Interdisciplinary Grant in August 2023, led by GYA member Mohammad Hosseini (Northwestern University, United States) and including Muhammad Zaffar Hashmi (The University of Lahore, Pakistan), Lelia Niamir (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austria), Estrella Díaz Sanchez (University of Castilla-La Mancha), and Sandra López-Vergèz (Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies, Panama).
Over the past months, project co-leads in collaboration with a research assistant have worked to refine their working definition of “ethics dumping” and to develop a schema and code book for collecting ethics dumping cases. The project now distinguishes between two forms of ethics dumping: International and domestic.
International ethics dumping, mentioned more often in research and more prevalent, refers to cases when researchers based in high income countries conduct research in low/middle income countries in ways that ultimately circumvent ethical guidelines. Domestic ethics dumping refers to researchers in affluent regions of a given country conducting research in comparatively lower income regions within this same country in ways that ultimately circumvent ethical guidelines.
Project co-leads continue to work on three main deliverables: 1. A database of ethics dumping cases; 2. A comprehensive literature review; and 3. A survey to distribute among GYA members.
In the meantime, co-leads have disseminated information about the project through several presentations and recent publications:
Upcoming
Mohammad Hosseini and Leila Niamir will present a poster through virtual participation at the upcoming World Conference on Research Integrity (June 2024, Athens, Greece) on this project and its aims.
May 2024
Mohammad Hosseini presented the work of this grant project in a “Lightning Talk” at the GYA’s 2024 Annual General Meeting and International Conference of Young Scientists in Washington, D.C., United States.
April 2024
The article “Investigation of Ethics Dumping Cases“, outlining the work of this grant project, was published by Mohammad Hosseini and research intern Adam DiMascio in Northwestern University’s newsletter.
February 2024
Mohammad Hosseini delivered a presentation at the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics International Conference, held in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.