Beyond ‘do no harm’? On the need for a dynamic approach to research ethics

Despite ongoing critical engagements with the remit and functioning of research ethics boards and review processes – not least in the limitations of transposing medico-scientific ethics approaches to the social sciences – the need for ethical practice in research is well established and accepted. Consequently, we see the ubiquitous requirement for academic social science research – whether by an undergraduate student, a PhD candidate, or an established professor – to undergo ethical review. Despite (or perhaps because of) this ubiquity in expectation, engagement with research ethics often remains perfunctory, formulaic, and procedural. Too often research ethics is reduced to a bureaucratic hurdle, a singular moment of approval that overlooks the dynamic, messy, and complex realities of the research journey. Moreover, this reductionist approach to research ethics is often replicated in teaching and training and reinforced as review duties are subsumed into the general administrative burden of academic life. How, then, might we move beyond the procedural and static to a substantive and dynamic research ethics process? Building on existing debates, we set out a number of possible strategies for realising this aim – not only in individual practice but linked to institutional processes in the set-up and management of ethics review, and opportunities for promoting the teaching of research ethics in a dynamic manner.