Scientists and Subjects About the project

About the project (historical and cultural context, benefits to seminar members and to others) Seminar description (description, objectives and outcomes, time commitment, registration and fee, seminar facilitator) Expectations (expectations, ground rules, guidelines) Enrollment status The online forum (overview, trying the forum) Registration form

Historical and cultural context

The practice of science has grown increasingly complex over the last several decades. Science today is typically very expensive, highly competitive, and undertaken by collaborative teams that usually include scientists at various stages of their careers.

Biomedical research involving human subjects also typically has a high potential to have a significant impact on many lives. It is arguable that the competitive and collaborative nature of science today has contributed to the amazing advancement of science in the last thirty to fifty years. However, it is clear that these same characteristics, as well as the expense and high impact of much research, can contribute to an atmosphere in which cutting corners, exaggerating the significance of findings, taking advantage of less powerful colleagues, treating human subjects as mere sources of data, and other irresponsible research practices may be tolerated or even tacitly encouraged.

The rapid advance of scientific knowledge and changes in research practices have resulted in a considerable cultural lag. Many well-established senior scientists were trained in an era when all of the researchers in a given subfield knew each other; when competition for funding and employment was less severe; and when laboratories and research groups were smaller. Many of today's mid-career scientists were trained with the values and work habits inherited from this earlier era and have begun to find that the example of a good mentor did not prepare them adequately for dealing with the more complex and competitive research environment of today. Common sense and a good moral character are no longer sufficient to ensure that scientists do the right thing.

Concern about the responsible conduct of science extends into the general public. Notorious cases, including the PHS Syphilis Study at Tuskegee, the Willowbrook case, and Cold War radiation research, have heightened public skepticism regarding the probity of science, scientists, and the research process. President Clinton's apology to the victims of the PHS Syphilis Study at Tuskegee was an important step toward repairing the public image of science and a clarion call to scientists to enhance and improve the integrity of the research process and especially the protection of human subjects of scientific research.

A great number of established scientists have not had the benefit of explicit, systematic training in responsible science. Those who want such training are hampered both by a dearth of appropriate programs and their own busy schedules. Furthermore, many researchers who have had training in research ethics want and would benefit from additional training specifically in the ethics of research using human subjects.

Benefits of the project

The benefits of the Scientists and Subjects Online Seminar will accrue directly to seminar members and indirectly to their colleagues, students, and post-doctoral fellows; their institutions; the scientific community; human subjects involved in research; and the public.

Benefits to seminar members

• Readings and online conversations will sensitize seminar members to critical ethical, legal, and social issues in research with human subjects.
• Intensive and ongoing contact with researchers from a variety of backgrounds, disciplines, and institutions will help all members develop tolerance and respect for alternative perspectives on these issues.
• Moderated discussions of key ethical issues in research with human subjects will broaden and deepen their moral imaginations and help sharpen their skills at solving moral problems, preparing them to recognize and resolve novel ethical, legal, and social issues in research with human subjects when they arise.
• An enhanced understanding of the background of the IRB system and the ethical and practical constraints on research with human subjects will prepare them to take an active role on IRBs and other committees (e.g., research integrity committees) and to provide improved oversight of research with human subjects.
• Participating in the online seminar will allow members to form mutual bonds of trust and support, creating a strong network of colleagues facing similar challenges that can be relied upon years after the seminar ends.
• Enhanced understanding of ethical, legal, and social issues involved in research with human subjects will improve seminar members' own research.

Benefits to others

• Students who are concerned about ethical, legal, and social issues in research are often reluctant to express such concerns unless their mentors show an active willingness to discuss them. Seminar members will be more comfortable discussing the ethics of human subjects research, creating a more open atmosphere in their courses, labs, and departments.
• Colleagues of seminar members will turn to them for advice and guidance on conducting research with human subjects and teaching the responsible conduct of science.
• Seminar members' institutions, including human subjects committees, will benefit from their increased insight and skills regarding ethical, legal, and social issues in research with human subjects.
• The scientific community profits from all efforts to improve the research enterprise through attention to ethical, legal, and social issues, and from improvements in science's public image that indirectly result from such efforts.
• Human subjects involved in research will enjoy a better relationship with scientists in a safer, more responsible research environment.
• Irresponsible research is bad research. Any improvement in the ethical conduct of research with human subjects provides a direct benefit to the public through better health care and more trustworthy research.

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Last updated: 21 February 2008
URL: http://poynter.indiana.edu/sas/sasos.php
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