• Question: Are your methods ethically correct?

    Asked by tree42air to Sudhin, Sergio, Katie, Frances, Diarmuid, Aoife on 9 Nov 2019. This question was also asked by ScraicConor.
    • Photo: Diarmuid Kenny

      Diarmuid Kenny answered on 9 Nov 2019:

      I believe so. I think ethics are something that everyone will have to decide for themselves. As far as I work, I think I am always ethical

    • Photo: Aoife Campbell

      Aoife Campbell answered on 9 Nov 2019:

      Yes. We have an ethics committee in our college so all of our animal work is very tightly regulated

    • Photo: Frances Shiely

      Frances Shiely answered on 11 Nov 2019:

      Yes. Many years ago before the development of rules and regulations such as the Nuremburg Code and the Declaration of Helsinki, and finally ICH GCP (International Conference on Harmonisation Good Clinical Practice) Guidelines, there were studies that were conducted that were unethical. Sometimes, investigators were aware that they were unethical and the classic example of that is the Tuskegee Syphilis study. Look it up and read about it. Doctors wanted to see what the natural course of syphilis was so even when drugs to treat it became available, they denied the patients the drugs. They conducted the study on poorly educated black people in the United States, and the people thought they were getting treated. That was very unethical and it was a scandal in the United States. As a result of studies like this, new guidelines were put in place and now research is very heavily regulated. All our studies must be approved by an ethics committee. An ethics committee is made up of scientists, doctors, statisticians, clinical trial managers etc. and they ensure that the study is conducted appropriately.

    • Photo: Katie Fala

      Katie Fala answered on 11 Nov 2019:

      I think so, most postgrad researchers in Ireland have to take special training courses in research ethics regarding our experiments, especially those who work with human participants or animals, as well as that our research is true, reproducible and original (i.e. not plagiarised!). Experimental design is very important to make sure you’re aware of any factors that could confound your results, as well as work out how many times you need to repeat experiments to show that the results are reproducible.

    • Photo: Sudhin Thampi

      Sudhin Thampi answered on 11 Nov 2019:

      Yes, ethics is top priority for all the projects I venture in. It gives me a sense of safety to know that all things are done in right manner.

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