How can we ensure that participants give their genuinely informed consent? What should be provided to control groups during clinical trials? How can we weigh the risks and benefits of various studies? How can we ensure scientific integrity in research? When should we conduct research with vulnerable populations, such as children and people in low- and middle-income countries? How should we interpret the Tuskegee syphilis study from a historical perspective?
There’s never a shortage of questions; it’s the answers that are harder to determine. For example, what type of consent is appropriate for biobanking research? When are the risks and benefits of research appropriately balanced? What special protection mechanisms are needed to include “vulnerable” study populations? How can we ensure scientific integrity in research? During this course, you will tackle these and other issues, while learning to apply theoretical insights to recent cases.
Research Ethics has been accredited by ABAN (KNMG) with 15 credits.
By the end of the course, you should be able to:
- Discern the morally salient dimensions of a research project, and come to a well-considered judgment about the acceptability of such a project
- Reflect on moral dilemmas for researchers and Research Ethics Committees, and be able to systematically analyze such dilemmas
- Weigh the various arguments involved, and work towards a well-reasoned position or decision
Our Professors
Rieke van der Graaf MSc PhD
Rieke van der Graaf is lecturer of the core course Research Ethics: an Introduction.
More information about dr. R. van der Graaf can be found here
Frank Huisman PhD
Frank Huisman is lecturer of the core course Research Ethics: an Introduction.
Frank Huisman (1956) studied History at Groningen University. In 1992, he earned his PhD at the Free University in Amsterdam with a thesis on early modern Dutch health care, for which he was awarded the five-yearly Lindeboom prize. In 1998, he became lecturer at the History Department of Maastricht University, and in 2006 he was appointed professor in the History of Medicine at the University Medical Centre in Utrecht, where he is also a member of the Descartes Centre for the History and Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities.
Hans van Delden MD PhD
Hans van Delden is lecturer of the core course Research Ethics: an Introduction
Johannes (Hans) van Delden is full professor of medical ethics at the University Medical Center of Utrecht University, the Netherlands and director of education of the same institute. There he also leads the project on patient and public participation for the hospital and for the academic research in the UMC Utrecht.