The Principles and Ethics of Including Children with Disability in Child Research

This paper provides a set of principles and ethics, developed in collaboration between Pacific‐ and Australian‐based researchers, to guide research practice in a project enabling the self‐reporting of children with disability in Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea (PNG). The paper presents both a summary of academic literature relating to these principles and ethics, as well as their succinct ‘translation’ into a set of action statements for researchers working with children with disability. The paper offers a base for further development by others to guide research practice and foster the autonomous participation of children with disability in developing countries.     

The Ethical Foundations of Risk Analysis

In the field of risk analysis, the normative value systems underlying accepted methodology are rarely explicitly discussed. This perspective provides a critique of the various ethical frameworks that can be used in risk assessments and risk management decisions. The goal is to acknowledge philosophical weaknesses that should be considered and communicated in order to improve the public acceptance of the work of risk analysts.     

The significance of meaning. Why IPBES needs the social sciences and humanities

The term “biodiversity” is often used to describe phenomena of nature, which can be studied without a reference to the socially constructed, evaluative, or indeed normative contexts. In our paper, we challenge this conception by focusing particularly on methodological aspects of biodiversity research. We thereby engage with the idea of interdisciplinary biodiversity research as a scientific approach directed at the recognition and management of contemporary society in its ecological embedding. By doing this, we explore how research on and assessments of biodiversity can be enhanced if meaning, aspiration, desires, and related aspects of agency are methodically taken into account. In six sections, we substantiate our claim that the discourse on biodiversity (including the IPBES (Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) debate) is incomplete without contributions from the social sciences and humanities. In the introduction, a brief overview of biodiversity’s conceptual history is provided showing that “biodiversity” is a lexical invention intended to create a strong political momentum. However, that does not impede its usability as a research concept. Section 2 examines the origins of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) by way of sociological discourse analysis. Subsequently, it proposes a matrix as a means to structure the ambiguities and tensions inherent in the CBD. The matrix reemphasizes our main thesis regarding the need to bring social and ethical expertise to the biodiversity discourse. In Section 3, we offer a brief sketch of the different methods of the natural and social sciences as well as ethics. This lays the groundwork for our Section 4, which explains and illustrates what social sciences and ethics can contribute to biodiversity research. Section 5 turns from research to politics and argues that biodiversity governance necessitates deliberative discourses in which participation of lay people plays an important role. Section 6 provides our conclusions.     

Ethical uneasiness and the need for open-ended reflexivity: the case of research into older people with a wish to die

This article focuses on research ethics in highly intimate research with possible impact on life and death. In order to stimulate an open-ended dialogue about research ethics, we reflect on four ethical challenges that came up during our research into older people with a wish to die. Drawing on our experiences, we discuss (1) the possibly confirming influence of our research on the death wish (moral experience of whether or not to disregard responsibility); (2) the suggested duty to intervene (moral experience of whether or not to compromise the person’s autonomy); (3) the researcher’s authority and power over the data (moral experience of threatening a person’s self-narrative) and (4) the dilemma of intimacy (moral experience of encountering the tragic). For guidance in addressing these challenges, we draw upon work on research ethics from phenomenological and care ethics scholars, as well as from those writing about relational ethics in health research. We suggest that being open about ethical uneasiness is important, because in most cases of a grey area, there are only open-ended answers needing an enquiring mind, rather than clear and fixed guidelines. Acknowledgement of ethical uneasiness and open-ended reflexivity are indispensable to constitute a morally good research practice.     

学术论文一稿多投的"诊"与"治"

一稿多投是学术界由来已久且难以医治的顽症。究其原因,主要是科研压力之下作者的投机心态、作者投稿经验的匮乏、稿件时效性的压力以及网上投稿的便捷与低成本等因素使然。一稿多投会造成编方人力资源的浪费,容易引发一稿多发,挤占宝贵的版面资源,引起版权纠纷,破坏学术诚信,扰乱科研秩序。要从加强制度建设、加大惩罚力度、利用高科技进行防范、健全监督机制、加强学术道德教育、提高编辑效率等方面,把"他律"与"自律"结合起来,惩防并举,标本兼治,多管齐下,齐抓共管,从根本上规范科研活动,根治一稿多投顽症。     

基因编辑技术背后的伦理与人权

当前基因编辑技术发展迅速,引起各国政府、学术界和企业界的广泛关注。但从近期“基因编辑婴儿”事件来看,基因编辑技术的伦理问题仍须厘清,我国现行法律尚不完善。通过保护基因编辑婴儿隐私、切实发挥伦理委员会作用、加快相关立法工作,我们或可更好地解决基因编辑技术背后的伦理和人权问题。     

清代冕宁司法档案中的“夷兵”及其功能考察

清代冕宁县作为多民族杂居的地区，雍正年间改土归流后，国家治理开始深入基层社会，为了适应当地民族社会管理的特别需要，当地形成了一种特殊的制度——夷兵换班制。“夷兵换班制”是通过招募当地“夷民”到流官衙署中充当“夷兵”，作为地方流官处理涉及少数民族内部事务的辅助人员，保证国家在处理当地少数民族民政、治安、司法等事务时有熟悉当地“夷俗”的衙吏。由于“夷兵”实行定期轮换，所以称为“夷兵换班制”。“夷兵换班制”的核心是“夷兵”，“夷兵”从职能上看，最初是作为地方治安保安人员，但在现实中往往成为流官和夷民之间在民政、治安、司法事务管理中的中介，具有沟通官方与民间信息、促进国家法与民族习惯融合与互动、弥补外来官吏地方民族事务管理能力不足等功能。总之，“夷兵换班制”是清代地方流官衙署在西南地区治理时针对特定地区设置的一种变通制度，这种制度对于国家在少数民族地区基层社会的治理发挥着十分重要的积极作用。     

The Subpoena of Ethnographic Data

This essay outlines the author's experience of having his ethnographic data subpoenaed. It outlines the challenges of subpoena's to research, and suggests four solutions: (1) Apply for and utilize the National Institutes of Health certificate of confidentiality by asking health‐related questions over the course of one's research; (2) Establish a task force that articulates clear ethical guidelines for ethnographic research, with attention to the conditions wherein ethnographers can break confidentiality (and might also comply with subpoenas). These ethical guidelines should then be made clear to research subjects as a part of informed consent processes; (3) Demand that institutions (institutional review boards) that require confidentiality as a condition of research be required to defend that confidentiality through the office of the general counsel; (4) Socialize the cost of subpoenas, wherein scholars can be part of an insurance pool that will defend them in the event of a subpoena and thereby defend the general enterprise of ethnographic research.     

On the Status and Function of Judicial Justice in Social Governance Innovation

Social governance innovation is a basic requirement of China's socialist construction, and an important guarantee that people can live and work in peace and enjoy long-term stability and order. Strengthening and innovating social governance has great significance for the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity, and this is where judicial justice plays a unique role at the level of government, society, and the individual. That is, judicial justice is the key to transforming governmental functions; the guarantee of a new-type social construction; and the guide to upgrading autonomy at the grass-roots level. To achieve judicial justice, we must popularize the idea of the rule of law, improve judicial work style and innovate judicial institutions.     

论环境行政公益诉讼的谦抑性——以检察机关提起环境行政公益诉讼为限

检察机关提起环境行政公益诉讼,是促进行政机关履行环境保护职责的重要方式.环境行政公益诉讼涉及检察机关、法院和行政机关三个机关,需要处理好司法权与行政权之间的关系.一方面,环境司法具有能动性,容易导致司法权与行政权之间的冲突;另一方面,基于司法有限性与环境法行政实施的特征,需要重视司法谦抑性问题.而如何认识环境行政公益诉讼的谦抑性,需要从理论和实践的维度进行分析.在检察机关提出环境行政诉讼时,应当尊重行政机关的首次管辖权、重视行政公益诉讼的诉前程序、尊重行政自由裁量权、重视行政不能问题.当然,这种谦抑并不是绝对的,为有效发挥行政公益诉讼的功能,应当把握好这种谦抑性的限度,通过明确强制诉讼范围、确定实体性裁判的要件、尊重诉讼和解等方式来处理好司法谦抑与司法监督的关系.