About irecs

improving Research Ethics Expertise and Competencies to Ensure Reliability and Trust in Science

Ethics in research is an essential ingredient for good science. Maintaining high ethical standards is essential to winning public trust in scientific work. However, there are many challenges such as new technologies, increasing international collaboration in academic research and the absence of standardisation across Europe. The EU-funded irecs project will reinforce the reliability of science by advancing research ethics expertise and competencies. It will improve the understanding of research ethics in Europe and provide interactive, sustainable training programmes. Building on the European Network for Research Ethics and Research Integrity and the Embassy of Good Science as well as close collaboration with key stakeholder organizations, irecs will create a horizontal community unifying research ethics practitioners, policymakers and other stakeholders.

irecs will develop case studies of technologies that will inform training material and other project activities. Ultimately we will train at least 600 people, including researchers and research ethics committees (RECs) members, to evaluate ethical issues in research projects using new technology.

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Know the challenges early

irecs is a Horizon Europe project tackling the ethical challenges of new technology used in research. 

The research ethics process is facing new challenges at a global scale. Technologies are appearing faster than their ethical considerations can be weighed. Research is globalising but ethical standards are not — running the risk that citizens of nations with the fewest safeguards will be the most burdened by unethical science.

We want to train researchers to anticipate and mitigate ethical issues in technology sooner rather than later.