How can we ensure our outreach and engagement activities are ethical?
[before, during, after]
Why is it relevant?
There is increased attention for improving the diversity of participants in citizen science initiatives and citizen observatories, and a general movement to engage with broader audiences across a range of demographic categories. This is especially the case when the topic under investigation in the CO particularly impacts certain groups of people inequitably or unjustly.
Such endeavours must necessarily start with actions to communicate with and reach out to currently under-reached groups of people and inviting them to participate in the activities of the project or initiative.
As citizen observatories aim to engage with a more diverse and representative range of participants and community members, it is crucial to consider how these outreach and engagement activities can also be conducted in an equitable and ethical fashion, such that people are not further disadvantaged or marginalised.
How can this be done?
During the planning and preparation stages of CS initiative or CO, it useful to turn to guidance that provides a framework for considering the ethics of these activities. One such guidance document is the PRO-Ethics Framework and Guidelines, which the CitiObs project has adapted to the context of Citizen Observatories and their activities. [This adapted ethics framework is contained in Appendix II of this deliverable, and will be further woven into the final LNOB Toolkit's sign-posted guidance].
Case study
(not yet identified)
Useful resources
FRAMEWORK & GUIDELINES: The PRO-Ethics Framework and Guidelines [1] provide structured guidance to support the ethical implementation of engagement and participatory processes in the activities of research funding organizations (RFOs), who wish to engage citizens and societal actors in design, execution and evaluation of research funding programmes. These guidelines were developed via an iterative process within the EU-funded PRO-Ethics project and tested in practice by 10 participatory pilots in different countries, incorporating best practices and insights identified along the way. The framework is structured to reflect different stages of the participatory process (i.e. before, during, and after) and aid RFOs in identifying and addressing the ethical challenges and limitations that might arise.
FRAMEWORK & GUIDELINES: The CitibObs adaptation of the PRO-Ethics Framework and Guidelines [2] (see Appendix II)
(more resources pending)
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References
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