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The Code Story

TRUST project in Cape Town, February 2017, © Amy Azra Dean

Launch of the Code

On 15 May 2018, Prof. Doris Schroeder, Leana Snyders and Prof. Klaus Leisinger presented TRUST’s Global Code of Conduct for Research in Resource-Poor Settings to the high-profile UN Leadership Council of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). The SDSN met at the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and TRUST was invited to present in a session entitled: “New opportunities for SDSN engagement”. The three speakers were asked interesting questions, including how the Leadership Council could support our work and vice versa. This event also served as the launch of the Code.
Code Launch Event Stockholm 2018

The Code in the European Parliament

The TRUST team in the European Parliament, 29 June 2018.

The Global Code of Conduct in Vatican City

“Ethics in Action” is an initiative supported and hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in the Vatican. In the spirit of the Encyclical Letter Laudato si’, it seeks morally appropriate solutions for urgent challenges facing the world. Meetings are held over two years in Casina Pio IV and delegates represent all major world religions as well as leaders of their communities and scientific experts. TRUST partner, Prof. Klaus Leisinger, is a core member of this highly prestigious Group. 

On 29 – 30 October 2018, Prof. Leisinger was joined by the TRUST Co-ordinator, Prof. Doris Schroeder, for the last but one meeting of “Ethics in Action”. Delegates assembled to discuss the challenges of the Future of Work. Klaus and Doris introduced the TRUST four values framework (fairness, respect, care and honesty) and applied it to the topic under consideration. They also spoke about the Global Code of Conduct for Research in Resource-Poor Settings, as an example of ethics in action, and distributed the San Code of Research Ethics to those interested.

Klaus Leisinger and Doris Schroeder with Cardinal Onaiyekan (Nigeria, right) und Cardinal Maradiaga (Honduras, left)
Klaus Leisinger and Doris Schroeder with Argentinian Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

Engagement activities

Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 13, 16, 19, and 20 of the Code are all about the equitable involvement of actors from low- and middle income settings in collaborative research. Meaningful engagement is the core spirit of the Code. Find below the engagement workshops of the TRUST project that led to the Code.

Engagement at UNESCO

Engagement in India

Engagement with Industry

Engagement with research councils and policy makers

Engagement with vulnerable populations and ethics committee chairs

Engagement with research funders

The Code Newsstand

They say...

Ron Iphofen, an adviser on research ethics to the European Commission, believes the code will have a profound impact on how funding proposals to the EU are designed and reviewed. "I could envisage reviewers now looking suspiciously at any application for funds that entailed research by wealthy nations on the less wealthy that did not mention the code," he says.
Ron Iphofen, an adviser on research ethics to the European Commission, believes the code will have a profound impact on how funding proposals to the EU are designed and reviewed. "I could envisage reviewers now looking suspiciously at any application for funds that entailed research by wealthy nations on the less wealthy that did not mention the code," he says.
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tweet by DNDi
DNDi's Executive Director Bernard Pécoul expressed his support in a message on Twitter emphasizing the importance of respect and care to underpin research involving vulnerable populations.
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