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The workshop titled “The Notion and Value of Public Involvement to Improving the Ethical Design of Research”, was held on the 5th of February 2019 at the Post Graduate Institute of Management, Sri Lanka. It was organized under the capacity building component of the South Asian Early Development and Research Capacity Building (SEARCH) Project funded by the Medical Research Council, UK. The main goal of the workshop was to introduce members of ethics review committees from leading institutions within the nation, to the concept of incorporating public involvement when attempting to improve the ethical design of research projects.
The resource persons included Prof. Athula Sumathipala, Dr. Steven Blackburn, Ms. Adele Higginbottom, Mr. Jim Elliot, Dr. Ashan Pathirana and Ms. Manouri Wimalasekara; who covered topics vital in communicating the importance of public involvement, the considerations to be made when incorporating it, and a strategy for spreading the message in Sri Lanka.
There were 49 attendees in total, representing 16 institution/organizations at the workshop.
The Institute for Research and Development organized the workshop with the aim of furthering the capacity of ethics review committee members to better aid researchers in improving the ethical design of research by involving the public. As Sri Lanka is a largely collectivistic and multicultural nation, which is host to many ethnicities and tolerant towards several beliefs, there are many aspects towards protecting an individual’s position within their social structure that need to be addressed. Identifying these needs when conducting research, which aspires to maintain high standards in ethics, will be difficult if not for the involvement of the public. This will help better adapt international ethics standards to the local social environment. Thus, there being ethics committee members, in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), who are sensitive to these concerns is vital in order to protect the public form poorly thought-out research, and the researcher from unknowingly compromising the integrity of their work.
The workshop introduced attending members from the represented ethics review committees to the discourse on the value of public involvement to improving the ethical design of research in a low- and middle-income country. The attendees were able to gain knowledge regarding the utility, effective use, and important considerations that must be made when employing public participation in improving the ethical design of research.
The workshop proved to be an excellent opportunity for ethics review committee members to network with those from ethics review committees of other intuitions, share their experiences, express their concerns and engage in discussion.
