Abstract
The key components to successful Research Ethics Committees (RECs) review during a public health emergency should be “rigorousness, responsiveness and timeliness”. This chapter explores the guidance in place (if any) for rapid RECs in health emergency contexts—in particular, the COVID-19 pandemic—and how qualitative research was not prioritised. Discussion groups with researchers from the Rapid Research and Appraisal Evaluation Lab (RREAL) Global Network were conducted to gain first-hand experiences of seeking ethics approval for rapid qualitative studies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fast-track REC processes, set up in response to the pandemic, affected rapid qualitative research and RECs have grappled to uphold their responsibility to rigorous, responsive, and timely reviews to facilitate research. Through reflective discussion, we highlight the importance of ethics in research, the issues that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic with attaining ethical approval for research within the RREAL Global Network, and how to overcome these challenges in the future and embed reflexivity in the REC process.
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We would like to thank members of the RREAL global team who shared their experiences with us.
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Cooper, S., Symmons, S.M. (2022). Reflecting and Learning from the Experiences of Researchers on Gaining Ethics Approval During the COVID-19 Pandemic. In: Vindrola-Padros, C., Johnson, G.A. (eds) Caring on the Frontline during COVID-19. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6486-1_2
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