🌷Special Issue: PREPARED in Amsterdam

Welcome to the PREPARED Amsterdam special issue newsletter!

Dear Reader,

We just returned from a successful PREPARED conference in Amsterdam and we have so much information for you that we are issuing a special newsletter.

Content:

Conference Recap
Two book launches
Interactive Learning
What we are reading

Conference Recap

Welkom to Amsterdam

50 delegates from 21 countries, including China, South Korea, Brazil, the US, Kenya, South Africa, Mexico, India and many European countries, were present when the PREPARED coordinator Doris Schroeder invited the audience to make important decisions about the project’s trajectory.

“We are about halfway through the project. Having been recognised as an ‘outstanding consortium’, I want us to use our expertise to focus on all major areas of crisis research, not just health crises”.

- Doris Schroeder

Showcasing PREPARED work

K Videnoja, C Seedall, L Tambornino, G Inguaggiato

Pamela Andanda

Chaired by Pamela Andanda, the opening panel showcased earlier PREPARED work and discussed how we can assist research ethics committees and research integrity offices.

Click the video above or here to watch the clip

The panel also emphasised broader social and economic challenges during crises. A short film clip by Iddah Akinyi highlighted the extreme burdens that the COVID-19 lockdown imposed upon sex workers in Kenya.

The PREPARED Code for Pandemics

The delegates were the first audience to see the draft PREPARED Code: A Global Code of Conduct for Research during Pandemics. Pre-recorded video comments were received from senior professors from three continents. Team comments were also gathered through small group work.

Watch this space, public consultation is planned to start in August 2024.

Collaboration with VolREthics

Francois Bompart

Francois Bompart, Carleigh Krubiner and Nandini Kumar invited the PREPARED team to collaborate more closely with VolREthics, an initiative that aims to protect and empower healthy volunteers in clinical trials. The team decided in favour of the collaboration.

Research in fragile settings

The most inspirational session, according to many delegates, brought together actors from across the research cycle to discuss research in fragile settings. Young Su Park movingly shared his research experience on a climate change-ravaged island in the Pacific. The panel included delegates from the European Commission, the WHO, the EDCTP and the European Research Council, and inspired the team to undertake more work on ethical research in fragile settings.

Two book launches

The conference audience enjoyed two book launches.

Vulnerability Revisited: Leaving No One Behind in Research was launched to great praise from the panel’s chair, Klaus Leisinger. This book was launched in the presence of the funder, Wellcome, and the publisher, Springer. Michelle Singh kindly provided a review for this sister project output:

Book Review – Challenging the protection-inclusion dilemma in research ethics: A community engagement toolkit for leaving no one behind in research – PREPARED (prepared-project.eu)

Book launch with authors, funders, publishers and endorsers

Roger Chennells’ All Rise provided both evening entertainment and food for thought during the conference dinner. The South African lawyer’s experience of supporting marginalised populations around the world was so fascinating that all books were sold within minutes.

Interactive Learning

The PREPARED app

The interactive, transformative learning app for Android and iPhone was launched by João Monteiro, the Chief Editor of NATURE Medicine. It currently includes a short course and three case studies. Feedback to the chief developer, Nearchos Paspallis, is very welcome before further case studies are added. Click here to download the app and read all about it.

Case study authors and app developers with João Monteiro

The PREPARED See Saw

At the conference, delegates also trialled the PREPARED See Saw, an interactive kiosk experience about trade-offs and difficult decisions during global crises.

Delegates noted that the see saw, which was funded by the PREPARED team's Amsterdam partner (VUMC), would also be highly valuable in group learning. Congratulations went to the chief developer, Nicos Casenides.

What we are reading

Delegates who managed to snap up copies are reading the two books that were launched at the conference, Vulnerability Revisited and All Rise.

In addition, the 10th PREPARED publication was accepted just before the conference, bringing our publication number into double digits. Here is an overview of all our recent publications:

Navigating the Post-Pandemic Normal: Learning from the Experiences of Cyprus-Based Female Researchers during the COVID-19 Pandemic by Josephina Antoniou, Nadia Kornioti and Katerina Antoniou

Research ethics preparedness during outbreaks and public health emergencies: Focus on community engagement by Raffaella Ravinetto, Joyce Adhiambo and Joshua Kimani

Improving ethical assurance for non-university researchers in crisis settings: an early vision based on democratic norms by Orla Drummond and Leanne Cochrane

Project lightspeed: A case study in research ethics and accelerated vaccine development by Doris Schroeder and Klaus Leisinger

Family without kinship – the pluralism of European regulatory research integrity systems and its implications by Kalle Videnoja

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We encourage any feedback or interesting ideas and research that you've found and would like to share. You can contact us at info@prepared-project.eu

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