Ethics Committee

The mandate of the Ethics Committee is to facilitate insightful and rigorous scientific research in our ever-changing and global information environment, while setting the highest standards of ethical practice in the organization of our research.  

One domain of activity for the Ethics Committee is in ensuring that our own research and use of human subjects is carried out in appropriate ways. Initially, this work requires a determination of whether an IPIE research project involves human subjects or not. If it does, the Consulting Scientist prepares a research proposal for the Ethics Committee, which then reviews, evaluates, and must approve the application to conduct the research.  

The Ethics Committee reviews all research proposals to ensure that our research maximizes the benefits of generating new knowledge and minimizes harm to human subjects—especially to vulnerable populations—and provides a risk mitigation strategy for unexpected circumstances. The Ethics Committee advises Consulting Scientists in the development of project proposals that respect the rights of both researchers and participants.  

The IPIE is committed to ensuring that its research involving human participants is conducted in a way that respects the dignity, rights, and welfare of participants, with minimal risk to participants, researchers, third parties, and to the IPIE itself.

A second domain of activity involves the consideration of other important ethical questions in the conduct of the IPIE’s business. The Ethics Committee advises on the review of funding sources and helps ensure that there is no adverse influence from the sources of organizational income and the research activities of Scientific Panels. The Ethics Committee is consulted in the review of Panel and Affiliate activities, and the design of affiliation, membership, and partnership agreements. For example, the Ethics Committee crafted the “declaration of interests” process for new Affiliates, which helps Committee Chairs understand any possible conflicts of interest that might arise, an evaluation which occurs before an IPIE Affiliate is invited to participate in a Scientific Panel.

The IPIE is organizing, evaluating, and elevating research at a global scale, which includes generating state-of-the-art reports, commissioning original studies and meta-analyses, collaborating with experts to develop and refine scientific methodologies, and ensuring the veracity of the evidence collected and used. Ethical oversight is critical to the credibility of IPIE outputs, and the Ethics Committee is guided by best practices for the responsible conduct of research by leading academic institutions and professional research associations.