The UAB Research Ethics Committee has compiled its history and that of research ethics evaluation in a volume published by the University's Publications Service, available online.
The book L'ètica en la recerca a la UAB. Els primers trenta anys has been edited by José Luis Molina, professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and director of the Research Ethics Committee (CERec), and anthropologist Sílvia Villagrasa Krasnobayeva.
The volume collects the experiences and personal stories of the protagonists who have been part of CERec from its beginnings until now: research staff, animal welfare advisory staff, and technical and administrative staff. Some forty people who have been responsible for the ethical evaluation of some 6,000 research projects and training and awareness courses and, in general, for advising UAB research staff.
"Their testimony allows us to understand the social, legislative and technological changes in research ethics at the university and in the Catalan, state and international system, and offers a comprehensive and critical view of the progress and challenges in this area," says José Luis Molina.
The content of the book is divided into three large blocks, inspired by the changes experienced by CERec itself in response to the general situation. The first block, animal research, was dominant in its first stage. Following that, the evaluation of bioethics projects ("human" research), the subject of the second block, took centre stage. Finally, the third block describes the incorporation of the social sciences and humanities.
A final part of the volume is devoted to reflecting on the challenges that will have to be addressed in the near future, such as the effects of artificial intelligence, big data or genomic editing, among others. Another topic focused on is the evolution of the current model for reviewing research projects in the face of increasing competitiveness and diversity of projects to be evaluated.
Link: L'ètica en la recerca a la UAB. Els primers trenta anys
