A collaboration between C:B Core Faculty member Stuart Rennie and colleagues at Stellenbosch University in South Africa has been awarded a grant from the Fogarty International Center of NIH to support research ethics education in Southern Africa. The Advancing Research Ethics training in Southern Africa (ARESA) program will promote responsible research in southern Africa by offering a postgraduate Diploma/Masters level educational program to health care and other professionals in research ethics and by developing a national network for Research Ethics Committee (REC) members. The Bioethics Unit at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa and the UNC Center for Bioethics will strengthen and expand local and regional African capacity by developing a research ethics curriculum incorporating a broad range of ethical issues across the health research spectrum, including ethics of qualitative research, mental health research, genetic research with indigenous populations, and pediatric research. The curriculum will devote special attention to ethical issues related to research design and methodology in response to the local needs of local research ethics committees, and reflect health conditions faced by vulnerable populations in Southern Africa by emphasizing the ethical challenges raised by research on infectious diseases (HIV and TB) and emerging chronic diseases. Ten Southern African trainees per year will be selected to participate in 3 two-week intensive and interactive research ethics modules at the University of Stellenbosch Bioethics Unit, be exposed to research ethics committee deliberations, and complete a practicum assignment. To enhance career development, trainees will be individually mentored by ARESA faculty to build capacity in research methodology, manuscript preparation and grant writing, and to develop a package of research training materials to be used at their home institutions.
see Stuart Rennie’s Global Bioethics Blog »