Ethics requires researchers to pay attention to and consider the potential effects of their research – both positive and negative – on research subjects and wider society and to always strive to minimise any harmful effects. In research ethics, conflicts of values and interests between stakeholders (other researchers, users of the outputs, research subjects, society, future generations) are identified, solutions to these conflicts are sought, and the balance between harm and benefit is carefully weighed up in favour of benefit. Ensuring strong ethical values serves to make research trustworthy, reproducible and sustainable.
Research ethics sits within the broader ethos of research integrity, which aims to provide a comprehensive framework for researchers on how to carry out their work within accepted ethical frameworks whilst following good research practice. In the end, research ethics and integrity should not only be a way to protect and be in concord with society, it should also be seen as the foundation of excellence in research and innovation. These ideas and practices are vital, especially with the availability of new forms of data, more advanced data acquisition tools, and the creation of new, and emerging technologies that have the capacity to cause significant economic and societal impact. This puts further pressure on this balancing act between harm and benefit, and in the absence of clear guidelines, risks pushing the pendulum more towards harm. This is why TechEthos aims to bring research ethics and integrity solutions to the forefront of technology innovation, making sure benefit is continually favoured. This will not only benefit the research community but also enhance public trust in future research outputs.
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