Research Ethics Week
Research Ethics Week is an annual week-long series of college and department-led educational opportunities focused on professional development and best practices to promote, maintain, and model high standards of ethics and integrity in research. 2021 events focused on the impact of COVID-19 on research ethics. Read more about the 2021 Research Ethics Week.
Research Ethics Week: March 1 - 5, 2021
Thank you to our colleges and departments for their participation in Research Ethics Week events and in their commitment to ethical research!
Know ‘Dis: Strategizing Around White Supremacist Epistemologies
PRESENTED BY THE COLLEGE OF DESIGN
Monday, March 1, 2021, 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. CST (Online Event)
Speaker: Dr. Jeanine Weekes Schroer, Associate Professor; Department Head, Geography and Philosophy; Chair, Philosophy & Cognitive Science
For designers and problem solvers of all stripes, a crucial challenge of our current context is how the epistemological (what we know) becomes and impacts ethical (what we ought to do). Specifically, once we recognize that white supremacy is not merely a system of rules and structures affecting our material lives or social organizations, but also shapes the frameworks by which we interpret and understand them, we have an obligation to try to disrupt those frameworks and try to see the world in a new light. This session shares some examples so we can practice how to do just that.
Following the 45-minute presentation by Dr. Jeanine Weekes Schroer, Libraries staff members Shanda Hunt and Amy Riegelman introduced participants to the UMN Libraries’ new anti-racism in research toolkit.
This event was open to everyone and had more than 60 attendees. See presentation slides from Dr. Jeanine Weekes Schroer's presentation; see presentation slides from the Library's Shanda Hunt and Amy Riegelman.
Contact Abimbola Asojo, PhD, with questions: aasojo@umn.edu
Conducting Research in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Ethics in an Emergency
PRESENTED BY THE CONSORTIUM ON LAW AND VALUES IN HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT & THE LIFE SCIENCES
Wednesday, March 3, 2021, 9:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. CST (Online Event)
This event, the Annual Research Ethics Day Conference, featured top national experts discussing how the COVID-19 pandemic is changing research ethics, touching on how to advance ethics and equity when conducting pandemic research, how to reconcile the need for research with the clinical imperative to save lives, and how the pandemic is affecting research design.
This event was open to everyone and attracted nearly a thousand participants and nearly 300 subsequent views on YouTube. See event recording & presentations.
Contact the Consortium with questions: consortm@umn.edu
Racism and Racial Discrimination: The African Immigrant Experience
PRESENTED BY THE SCHOOL OF NURSING
Thursday, March 4, 2021, 12:30 - 1:20 p.m. CST (Online Event)
Speaker: Manka Nkimbeng, PhD, MPH, RN, from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health
This seminar explored two unique experiences: racial discrimination in African immigrants and hair discrimination in the US. Participants then discussed some practical suggestions on how to tackle some of these challenges within our community.
This event was open to everyone and had more than 20 participants. You can watch the event recording and presentation on the School of Nursing’s Research Seminars page.
Contact Margaret Celebrezze with questions: celeb004@umn.edu
Ethical Statistics throughout the Research Lifecycle: It's Not Just about Sample Size!
PRESENTED BY THE COLLEGE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE
Thursday, March 4, 2021, 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. CST (Online Event)
Speakers: Michael Conzemius, DVM, PhD, DACVS; Aaron Rendahl, PhD
This tour of research ethics from a statistical perspective included discussions of sample size calculations as well as how statistical considerations inform all aspects of the research lifecycle. Planning a study properly is essential for being able to answer one’s scientific questions, as the strength of evidence for conclusions depends on the design choices. Also discussed was how to choose analyses, why making those choices matters, and how one might make different choices depending on the goals of a study. Participants considered the ethics involved in reporting results and what kind of information an audience needs to properly understand the evidence that is presented.
This event was open to everyone and had 60 participants. See the recorded program and presentation slides.
Contact the CVM Research Office with questions: vetres@umn.edu
Ethical Considerations in the Grants Process
PRESENTED BY THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS
Friday, March 5, 2021, 10:00 a.m. - 10:50 a.m. CST (Online Event)
Seeking, getting, and running research grants can involve numerous ethical considerations, from writing or rewriting grant proposals (e.g., can you reuse your own text in multiple proposals? are simultaneous submissions okay?) to making sure you're prepared to carry out the work if the grant is awarded (IRB/IACUC, REPA, etc.) to managing funders' level of support and/or expectations if they change unexpectedly. Members of the CLA Research Development team discussed these and other ethical issues sometimes encountered in the process of getting external funding for your research.
This event was open to everyone and attracted a dozen participants.
Contact CLA Research Services with questions: claresearch@umn.edu