This is a summary of the report: ‘Ethics in modern slavery research. Review of the current landscape and evaluation of research ethics appropriateness’, carried out by the University of Liverpool and the University of Nottingham.
Context and objectives
There are increasing calls for researchers, research organisations and funders active in the field of modern slavery and human trafficking (MSHT) research to reflect on their own practices of engagement and co-production. Momentum has built on this point as lived experience experts have become more directly involved in the production of research. As a result, a greater range of stakeholders involved in MSHT research now regard such practices of inclusion as both a normative good and a means of delivering more robust and relevant research that can inform policy and practice of greater efficacy. In this context, attention must be given to ensuring that research underpinning anti-trafficking policy and practice is ethically-robust, attentive to the prevention and mitigation of harms and attuned to the needs, goals and aspirations of those with lived experience.
This study, commissioned by the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC) draws on the extant body of evidence about approaches to research ethics in the field of MSHT as well as original empirical data collection with three key objectives. Firstly, to take stock of current practice and consider its appropriateness. Secondly, to share understandings of what it means to conduct research on MSHT ethically from a range of perspectives and, thirdly, to make targeted recommendations for a range of research stakeholders. These include research funders, research organisations (e.g. universities), research ethics committees, research teams, NGO partners and lived experience experts engaging in research.
Methods
The research was conducted in three phases. The first phase involved a rapid desk-based review of published work on the ethics of research in fields related to MSHT, the second phase gathered data through individual interviews and focus groups with MSHT research stakeholders, and the third phase centred on analysis and the testing of findings with research participants.
Findings and recommendations
Our findings pointed to current challenges and opportunities for ethics innovation in four areas of research practice or infrastructure:
- Ethical Governance: a need for greater scrutiny, review and reform of institutional/sectoral or organisational structures to ensure that they provide the necessary infrastructure, resourcing and peer support for ethical research to take place.
- Ethical Co-production and Participatory Methods: a need to develop better and clearer expectations of project onboarding practices for lived experience experts involved in co-produced research either as peer-researchers/consultants or as research participants.
- Adopting a Trauma-Informed Approach: a need for training around how to accommodate trauma in research through a more explicit trauma-informed approach that promotes inclusion, empowerment and choice on the part of those with lived experience.
- Ethical Legacies: a need to consider robustly the legacies of research for all partners/participants from the outset of projects. This will ensure there is scope for all to experience benefits - from career development, training opportunities or improved self-esteem, to sharing of ethical challenges encountered and opportunities to improve practice through reflecting on lessons learned.
All stakeholders engaged in MSHT research should be mindful of these four key areas of concern (ethical governance, ethical co-production and participatory methods, adopting a trauma-informed approach, and ethical legacies) and can begin to take short-term non-costed changes in their approaches to research based on the recommendations in this report. Structural changes will be necessary in the longer-term, and this requires an open dialogue between multiple stakeholder groups.
Acting in an ethical manner to produce research in the field of MSHT requires action beyond individual research teams’ enhanced engagement with existing ethics review processes. Established ethics frameworks tend to be top-down and focus predominantly on project-specific issues relating to confidentiality, consent, data protection, sampling etc. Whilst these remain central considerations, our study also asks research organisations, funders and other stakeholders who surround and support these teams to consider whether their current systems and structures are cultivating the conditions in which ethical research can thrive.
Continuous review of structural conditions and reflection upon research practice alongside a willingness to update methods, processes and systems as necessary should be a fundamental part of any ethical approach to MSHT research. This will enable innovation, responsiveness to challenges encountered and most importantly will lay the necessary groundwork for experiences of engagement in research to be positive for all involved.
Lunchtime seminar
Tuesday 17 December 2024, 12.30 - 1.15 pm
Tune in to our lunchtime seminar, where the author of the report Dr Wendy Asquith from the University of Liverpool will present the findings and open up a conversation on how to improve the ethics of the modern slavery research.
