Ethics & Security

Ethics and Security

Human beings:

INNOECOFOOD is committed to protecting the values, rights, and interests of the participants, ensuring that all actions involving voluntary participation are subject to free and informed consent according to the New European regulations 2016/679 (EC, 2016). Social and Economic scientists will perform their tasks based on proven methodological approaches chosen to elevate diverse views and perspectives and contribute to the project overall vision to reduce the food safety risks. These approaches may include surveys, questionnaires, consumer tests, semi-structured and structured interviews, or direct observations. A diversity and gender-aware approach, with representatives of different stakeholders’ groups will be used for recruiting and engaging in multi-actor participatory processes. All participants will be randomly selected and provided with an informed consent form with detailed information document (written in a language they can understand, avoiding technical jargon) explaining the study design, purpose and expected impact of the research, and the treatment of personal data given by participants together with the informed consent. This informed consent sheet clearly explains that participation is voluntary and can be terminated at any time. INNOECOFOOD partners are required to ensure that potential participants fully understand the information and are not coerced or otherwise pressured. Children and their parents will be requested to complete it. Data collected from participants will be treated anonymously with confidentiality and in accordance with the GDPR.

Personal data:

• In regards with the personal data protection policies, the following guidelines will be followed:
• GDPR – Directive (EU) 2016/679 of the European Union and of the Council on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and Member States national regulations
• HE regulations on data management concerning ethical and societal aspects, ensuring respect for human dignity and protection of the values, rights and interests of the research participants
• Ethical guidelines at national level, national research organisations/councils, and specific project partners’ guidelines
• The Market Research Society (MRS)’s code of professional conduct on data collection, informed consent, confidentiality, anonymity and data security

Data collection will be conducted according to the ethical principles expressed in the Declaration of Helsinki, in particular the Article 19. The data collection will be approved by the ethical committee. Personal data will only be collected if extremely relevant and necessary to research and action objectives. Under these rules, personal data is processed in accordance with certain principles and conditions that aim to limit the negative impact on the persons concerned and ensure fairness, transparency and accountability of the data processing, data quality and confidentiality.

The nature of the INNOECOFOOD research will not involve contentious or sensitive issues, and the will not deliberately mislead participants. However, for the questionnaires and interviews participants will have the option of omitting questions they do not want to answer. Participants will be told that their data will be treated with full confidentiality and that, if published, it will not be identifiable as theirs.

Environment, health & safety:

Experiments will be performed to obtain the necessary data to validate the HUBs. Therefore, some staff may be exposed to some contaminants. They are all experienced in working in a laboratory and follow good laboratory practices, and all have received regular training on prevention of occupational hazards according to the tasks they carry out. In case of hazardous compounds for the environment the assays will be performed at controlled mesocosm scale, on-site at the same environmental conditions but not continuously connected to the real crop soil, to avoid any risk of transference of pollutants to the environment.

Use of vertebrates (fish):

Specific fish species will be examined in INNOECOFOOD, including Tilapia and catfish in WP3. Alternative technologies are not available to substitute the use of live fish species in these pilot and industrial experiments and the data cannot be obtained through any other means. The work will be conducted in pilot aquaculture facilities authorized to farm these species. All certificates will be provided before any experiment starts to the Ethical Advisory Committee of the project and to the EC. Each HUB will have the required holding permits from national authorities. Staff will be licensed by national authorities to work with laboratory animals based on courses. All permits will be obtained prior to the start of any experiments on fish. The use of fish will satisfy the principles of the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement).

Participants:

The ethical measures related to human beings will include:

• Participants consist of persons who voluntarily participate in INNOECOFOOD project through the surveys the beneficiaries will conduct.
• Participants will be informed about the goals, methods and expected impacts of INNOECOFOOD, as well as the consortium’s expectations regarding their participation.
• Informed consent for written or digital data collection will be secured before data collection from participants, using an informed consent form and information sheet. These will be tailored according to the specific country (e.g. translate into native language and avoid technical jargon); A commitment to listening to and including the perspectives of children and young people in the research. Inviting freely given written consent from all children participating in the research and from the parent or guardian of those under 16, while ensuring that all understand that they can refuse any question or withdraw at any time. Informing children and parents, through discussion and the provision of age-appropriate leaflets, what the research is about, how it will be disseminated, and how their data will be stored.
• Participants will receive feedback and updates on INNOECOFOOD progress to reward their interest and time investment in the project. To ensure ethics compliance throughout the course of the project, partners will keep record of recruitment, inclusion and exclusion criteria for human-based activities, and of informed consent procedures and documentation. Any vulnerable groups or individuals included in these activities, either by coincidence or design, will be documented as to the details of their type of vulnerability, demonstrate exceptional efforts to ensure fully informed understanding of participation and freely given consent, involve consultation and consent from legal guardians or caretakers, and comply with all relevant EU and international laws.

Personal data:

Ethics measures related to personal data will include the protection of personal data and the privacy of participants.
INNOECOFOOD will:

• Ensure that partners’ staff minimize the collection and use of data of a highly sensitive nature.
• Ensure that, where required, data collection is approved by the appropriate ethics committee.
• Prescribe
  • how the data will be stored and used to protect personal identities;
  • if the data are to be made anonymous or codified, and if not;
  • who will have access to the data;
  • and decide what will happen to the data after the end of the project and/ or if the participant chooses to withdraw their consent.

Documented and fully informed consent is required whenever personal data is collected. The project partners involved will appoint a Data Protection Officer who will be responsible of guaranteeing the fulfillment of the EU and national regulations. The INNOECOFOOD project website, which will be managed by FSPN-Africa, will be compliant with the GDPR through the provision of a Privacy Statement and cookie bar informing website visitors on what INNOECOFOOD does with their personal data.

Users will be able to voluntarily sign-up to the project mailing list using the ‘Subscribe’ button that will be on the project website. The sign-up page will contain a link to the Privacy Statement, and subscription will be on a double opt-in basis, whereby people who sign up will need to confirm their email address to complete the subscription process. The subscription system will send an automatic email to the subscriber who will then need to click on the link in the email sent to them. Using double opt-in ensures compliance regarding consent under GDPR.

The mailing list will be developed such that subscribers are anonymous and will only be used to share INNOECOFOOD related information, news and events. Personal data will be stored on secure databases and will not be used/shared for any other purpose. Photographs and videos taken at INNOECOFOOD project events, workshops, meetings and promotional activities will comply with the GDPR using consent forms to be signed by all persons involved.

Environment, health & safety:

Ethics measures related to environment, health and safety will include:

• • To establish and abide by recognized procedures to keep researchers and technicians safe.
  • To ensure all staff involved has the knowledge and expertise to perform the tasks, has the appropriated safety equipment and measures, and follows good practices, especially in relation to laboratory work.
  • To report health and safety incidents and respond with appropriate mitigation measures
  • To ensure any contaminant are not released into the environment and are properly stored and treated.

The use of vertebrates (fish):

The facilities and staff can Plan, Take Part, Perform, and Slaughter fish in relation to various experiments.

All training certificates and personal licences of staff involved in animal experiments will be kept by partners.