Call for Chapter Proposals
Working title: Ethical Review in Practice
Editors: Lucy Pickering and Helen Kara
Research ethics approval is a key part of the process for many researchers. The small but growing body of research on this shows that experiences are not always smooth (see, for example, Perry 2011; Andersson 2016; Pickering 2018; Aldridge 2024; Bandula-Irwin 2024; Bishop et al 2024). In this book, we aim to contribute to the literature on research ethics processes by identifying the lessons that can be learned not only from negative experiences, but also positive and mixed encounters, and unpacking tensions between the responsibilities of different actors in ethical governance and management. Bristol University Press has expressed interest in seeing a proposal for this book.
The book is intended for people working in academia, health authorities, and other contexts where research is conducted. Readers might include:
- Doctoral students and others who need to learn about research ethics
- Members of research ethics committees (RECs), institutional review boards (IRBs), and equivalent bodies
- University managers
- People going through ethics with a complex problem
- Independent, community-based, practitioner and other researchers and their managers
- People setting up ethics committees
We are seeking proposals on good, bad and mixed experiences of working with or in RECs/IRBs from all research sectors, including navigating multiple RECs/IRBs. Projects may include quantitative, qualitative, or mixed data or approaches. We would like to hear stories of your positive, negative, or mixed experiences of going through the research ethics process, and your reflections on the relationship between ethics and responsibility. We are particularly keen to receive submissions from researchers in or from the majority world and researchers from underserved groups.
Please send us an outline of no more than 500 words covering the following points:
- Name(s)
- Where you are based now
- Which REC(s)/IRB(s) you belonged to or applied to
- Brief details of your work: location(s), topic(s), method(s), and any other relevant information
- What happened
- What you learned from that
- How that learning could be applied in other contexts
If you have queries, or to submit your proposal, please contact Lucy Pickering at lucy.pickering@glasgow.ac.uk. The deadline is midnight GMT on Sunday 30 November. If you would like a PDF of this call, click here.
References
Aldridge C (2024) Untangling threads, piecing together and unpicking: The possibilities and barriers of visual vignettes in trauma-sensitive research. In: Kara H (ed.) The Bloomsbury Handbook of Creative Research Methods. Bloomsbury Academic, pp.195–207.
Andersson R (2016) Here be dragons: Mapping an ethnography of global danger. Current Anthropology 57(6): 707–731.
Bandula-Irwin T (2024) Research ethics boards, women researchers, and fieldwork. In: Johnstone R and Momani B (eds) Glass Ceilings and Ivory Towers. University of British Columbia Press, pp.45–61.
Bishop R, Laugarne R, Shaw N, et al (2024) The inclusion of adults with intellectual disabilities in health research – challenges, barriers and opportunities: A mixed-method study among stakeholders in England. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research 68(2): 140–149.
Perry K (2011) Ethics, vulnerability, and speakers of other languages: how university IRBs (do not) speak to research involving refugee participants. Qualitative Inquiry 17(10) 899–912.
Pickering L (2018) Paternalism and the ethics of researching with people who use drugs. In: Iphofen R and Tolich M (eds) The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research Ethics. Sage, pp.411–424.
Helen Kara 