Ensuring reliability and trust in quality of Research Ethics expertise in the context of new/emerging technologies
HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions
Basic Information
- Identifier
- HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ERA-01-91
- Programme
- European Research Area
- Programme Period
- 2021 - 2027
- Status
- Closed (31094503)
- Opening Date
- June 22, 2021
- Deadline
- September 23, 2021
- Deadline Model
- single-stage
- Budget
- €5,000,000
- Keywords
- Ethics in engineering and technologiesLearning outcomesEthics in research and innovationInternational CooperationAfricaEmerging technologiesEthics expertPublic trust in scienceResearch ethicsResearch integrity
Description
Projects are expected to contribute to the following expected outcomes:
Ensuring the adherence to the highest standards of research ethics is a key element of national and EU research policy. Because of its universal impact on our society and its primary role in innovation, the need for ethics rigour, the pillar of public trust in the scientific endeavour, is essential. Overall, research ethics is the foundation of high quality research and a prerequisite for achieving excellence in research and innovation in Europe and beyond.
In order to ensure that the research activities meet these expectations, they need to comply with the relevant legislations (e.g. on personal data protection, clinical trials, animal research etc.) and ethics principles. Assessing the compatibility with ethics principles requires the involvement of ethics experts that usually provide, as an ethics committee/panel an opinion or an approval. These experts, including early career researchers, come from all disciplines in science, from the public and private sector, as well as from citizens associations and NGOs.
Reliability and trust in the quality and expertise of the ethics experts is therefore key. This requires beyond the questions related to the independence and the possible conflicts of interest, that the experts have the necessary knowledge and understanding of the issues at stake to be able to assess the activity under review.
The recent rapid development of new technologies with high potential socio-economic impact[1] constitutes in this regard an important challenge: ensuring that technological transformations go hand in hand with the protection and promotion of fundamental rights thus ensuring that people can prosper, enjoy their rights and freedoms and live without discrimination.[2] In this context, because of the continuous globalisation of the research activities involving those new technologies, the risk of ethics dumping, the exportation of unacceptable practices outside the EU is a growing concern.
The action proposed should address these issues in mobilising the research ethics community and develop the necessary education, awareness and training actions as well as propose possible adaptation of the ethics review process.
Scope:The first objective should be to identify the main ethics challenges resulting from the most impactful new and emerging technologies, including the specific challenges arising from research activities involving those new technologies in collaboration with non-EU partners and outside the EU.
From this analysis, the action should develop education, awareness actions and trainings for research ethics experts. This should be done by involving the key stakeholders. Structured cooperation with the e-platform Embassy of Good Science[3] and the European networks ENERI (European Network of Research Ethics Committees and Research Integrity Offices)[4] and ENRIO (European Network of Research Integrity Offices) is necessary. The cooperation with other relevant networks can be envisaged. In addition, where feasible these activities should be based on the analysis of case studies, including from non-EU countries where relevant research activities take place, to facilitate the development of practice-oriented trainings as well as the identification of good practices. The material produced, as well as all other outputs of the action, must be made available in the platform Embassy of Good Science, a one stop shop for all Commission produced ethics and research integrity reference materials and trainings, which can be readily used by all Members States and beyond. Where relevant, the EU Digital Education Action Plan[5] should be taken into account.
The action should be based on the results coming from projects funded by the EU[6] on the ethics dimension of new technologies and other relevant domains (notably SIENNA, PANELFIT, SHERPA, I-CONSENT, ENERI, and TRUST) as well as benefit from the work of the project SOP4RI, working on standard operating procedures and VIRT2UE working on a train-the-trainer programme. For the ongoing projects, cooperation and synergies should be established, via a dedicated horizontal coordination work package. This work package should also pay particular attention to the cooperation with the projects resulting from call H2020-SwafS-2020-1 TechEthos, HYBRIDA and ROSiE.[7] The involvement of the stakeholders such as ENERI and ENRIO should also be used to launch a debate on the impact of the new ethics challenges on the ethics review process to determine how its role and working practices could evolve to maintain effectiveness.
In addition, this cooperation with the main actors should aim at disseminating widely the material produced. The action should in this context foresee the training of the 250-300 Horizon Europe ethics appraisal scheme experts, paying close attention to gender balance, as well as to gender equality and diversity related ethical aspects, and make use of their feedback to improve the trainings. More largely, the institutions organising ethics reviews (universities, research centres, etc.) should be invited to ensure that the experts they rely on are also trained, as part of their quality process and standard operating procedures.
Finally, the action should aim at valorising the work produced beyond the community of ethics and integrity experts and in particular by promoting its use for the students and young researchers that will constitute the next generation of ethics experts and reviewers. In this perspective, cooperation should be sought with large university/research networks (such as EUA, YERUN, LERU, CESAER, EARMA etc.) in order to enrich the relevant ethics related curriculum with the material produced by the action.
In order to achieve the expected outcomes, cooperation with actors from China, Korea and/or African countries non-associated to Horizon Europe is required.
Cross-cutting Priorities:International Cooperation
Africa
[1]Applicants may consult : https://ec.europa.eu/info/news/what-are-technologies-will-reshape-our-world-independent-experts-identify-100-them-2019-jun-13_en
[2]Presidency conclusions - The Charter of Fundamental Rights in the context of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Change, Brussels, 21 October 2020 (OR. en) 11481/20 FREMP 87 JAI 776
[5]https://ec.europa.eu/education/education-in-the-eu/digital-education-action-plan_en
[6]Detailed information of the mentioned EU funded projects can be found on CORDIS web site (https://cordis.europa.eu/ )
[7]Ibid.
Destination & Scope
Introduction
Horizon Europe has a new level of ambition – to maximise the impact of EU research and innovation funding for European science, economy and the wider society. It marks a paradigm change in the design of the EU R&I Framework Programmes (FP) from an activity-driven to an impact-driven programme. Coupled to this ambition is the relaunching of the European Research Area (ERA) as described in the recently published Commission Communication entitled A new ERA for Research and Innovation (COM/2020/628 final of 30.09.2020).
The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates the importance of R&I cooperation to deliver solutions to society’s most demanding needs. Delivering Europe’s recovery is a priority as are the green and digital twin transitions. To match these challenges, a new level of ambition that links better R&I with the economy, as well as with education and training, is necessary to put the EU’s scientific knowledge to work.
The new ERA calls for deepening existing priorities and initiatives through new and stronger approaches. The green and digital transitions and the recovery call for cooperation between the Commission and the Member States. They require the setting of new priorities, launching ambitious joint initiatives and developing common approaches between policies.
To address these requirements, Destination 3 of Annex 11 of the Horizon Europe Work Programme, will support efforts to reform and enhance the EU R&I system. Destination 3 is built around four strands corresponding to the four objectives set out in the ERA Communication: 1. Prioritise investments and reforms; 2. Improve access to excellence; 3. Translate R&I results into the economy and 4. Deepen the ERA. The principle of excellence, meaning that the best researchers with the best ideas that respond best to the societal challenges obtain funding, remains the cornerstone for all investments under the ERA.
Strand 1 recognises the importance of prioritising investments and reforms to accelerate the green and digital transformation and to increase competitiveness as well as the speed and depth of the recovery. It offers support for policy makers and addresses the need for better analysis and evidence, including simplifying and facilitating the inter-play between national and European R&I systems.
Strand 2 addresses the need to improve access to excellence and to increase the performance of R&I systems, building on dedicated Horizon Europe measures as well as complementarities with smart specialisation strategies under the Cohesion Policy.
Strand 3 addresses the importance of translating R&I results into the economy. R&I policies should aim to boost the resilience and competitiveness of our economies and societies.
Strand 4 addresses the challenge of deepening the ERA and includes Open Science, Higher Education and Researchers, Citizen Science, Science Education, Gender and Ethics. It aims at underpinning a new ERA benefiting from knowledge creation, circulation and use. This empowers higher education institutions and research organisations to embrace a transformative process; where a highly skilled workforce circulate freely; where research outputs are shared; where gender equality is assured; where the outcomes of R&I are understood, trusted and increasingly used, by educated informed scientists and citizens to the benefit of society.
Expected impact:
Proposals for topics under this Destination should set out a credible pathway to contributing to the following expected impacts:
- Reform and Enhance the EU R&I system
- Prioritisation of investments and reforms, realisation of the recovery and the twin transitions
- Improved access to excellence
- Greater quality of the scientific production and stronger translation of R&I results into the economy
- Deepen the ERA
- Coordinated national and regional R&I programmes by pooling national resources and contributing to the alignment of national research and innovation policies
- Improved knowledge for policy making about the networking patterns of research support staff and research management
- Synergies between research & innovation and higher education policies and programmes
- Modernised higher education sector, benefitting from targeted transformations in higher education, research, and innovation
- Increased number of interconnected knowledge ecosystems, strong in knowledge creation, circulation and use
- Researchers benefit from attractive careers
- Inclusive gender equality is promoted in the European research and innovation system
- A more open and inclusive research and innovation system
- Increased capacity in the EU R&I system to conduct open science and to set it as a modus operandi of modern science
- Increased engagement of citizens with research and innovation
- Increased alignment of strategic research with society needs, expectations and values
- Identified synergies between second and third level education, and between education and business;
- Increased trust in science and R&I outcomes, and greater two-way communication between science and society
- Knowledge and a highly skilled workforce circulate freely
- Improved capacities within the EU R&I system to conduct open science
- A more open and inclusive research and innovation system
Eligibility & Conditions
General conditions
1. Admissibility conditions: described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes
Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System
2. Eligible countries: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.
3. Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
Legal entities established in non-associated third countries may exceptionally participate in this Coordination and support action.
Due to the scope of this topic, in addition to the minimum number of participants set out in the General Annexes, proposals must include at least two participants from China, Korea and/or African countries non-associated to Horizon Europe. Participants from countries, which are not eligible for funding according to the General Annexes, may take part in the project as associated partners.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes
5. Evaluation and award:
- Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes
- Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual
- Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes
Beneficiaries will be subject to the following additional dissemination obligations:
Proposals must include structured cooperation with the e-platform Embassy of Good Science[[www.embassy.science]], and the European Networks ENERI (European Network of Research Ethics Committees and Research Integrity Offices)[[http://eneri.eu/]] and ENRIO (European Network of Research Integrity Offices)[[http://www.enrio.eu/]].
The output material of the action must be made available on the e-platform Embassy of Good Science.
Specific conditions
7. Specific conditions: described in the specific topic of the Work Programme
Documents
Call documents:
Standard application form — call-specific application form is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE CSA)
Standard evaluation form — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE CSA)
MGA
Call-specific instructions
Essential Information for Clinical Studies
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 12. Missions
HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 13. General Annexes
HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
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