1. WP7 Ethics requirements
Reponsible Institutions: IOER, TUD-EPC, CAUPD
Presenter: Claudia Hawke (TUD-EPC)

2. WP 7 Ethics requirements
Objectives
The objective is to ensure compliance with the 'ethics requirements' set out in WP7.
Ethics requirements are based on the ethics issues identified in the Ethics Summary Report:
Humans participants
Protection of personal data
Involvement of third countries
WP 7 Ethics requirements

3. Pre-Grant Requirements
1. Procedures and criteria that will be used to identify/recruit research participants:
Experts and other stakeholders will be selected on the basis of their expertise or their involvement in different urban development activities. Other interviewees will be selected randomly.
2. Information on the informed consent procedures for the participation of humans:
All persons taking part in empirical parts of the project will be asked for their informed consent before any data is collected.
Information presented to participants will clearly express, which data will be collected and for which purposes the data will be used.
3. Clarify whether children and/or adults unable to give informed consent will be involved and if so, how will consent/assent be assured:
Children and/or adults unable to give informed consent will not be involved in the study.
Pre-Grant Requirements are addressed in Section 5.1 of the DoA Part B:
WP 7 Ethics requirements

4. Pre-Grant Requirements
4. Clarify whether vulnerable individuals/groups will be involved and details about the measures taken to prevent the risk of enhancing vulnerability/ stigmatisation of individuals/groups.:
Vulnerable individuals or groups will not be involved in the numerous information/knowledge collection activities. The participation is voluntary.
5. Justification must be given in case of collection and/or processing of personal sensitive data:
No personal sensitive data will be collected.
WP 7 Ethics requirements

5. Pre-Grant Requirements
6. Detailed information on the procedures for data collection, storage, protection, retention and destruction and confirmation that they comply with national and EU legislation:
Data minimization.
Data collection and analysis in an anonymous or at least pseudonymous way.
Collected data will be immediately pseudo anonymized and aggregated, and original data will not be stored.
Data will be deleted or fully anonymized as soon as the relevant scientific and innovative purpose as stated in the DoA is fulfilled.
For collection, storage and analyses of personal data only computers under the sole control of the project partners will be used.
All data collected will be stored and transmitted in an encrypted way.
7. Clarify whether the qualitative interviews, ethnographic studies, and surveys do not entail the acquisition of personal data.
No personal sensitive data will be collected.
WP 7 Ethics requirements

6. Pre-Grant Requirements
8. Clarify whether the analysis activities involve the secondary use of personal data:
In case of secondary use of personal data, partners have to provide evidence that the data is publicly available.
The techniques for data obfuscation (such as substitution, shuffling, nulling out and masking out) will be used in case some sensitive data will be left in these data sets.
9. Foreseen measures to minimise risks to research participants, specifically where results may conflict with official state-sponsored policies in China, may reveal discriminatory regulations and policies, may uncover corrupt administration practices, and may adversely affect the researchers/participants:
Prominent Chinese institutions are directly involved in the project as partners and co-leads, directly linked to ministries and high level policy-making of the national government.
Chinese partners will forward solutions to the government so that they can be considered in further decision-making and included in policy-making processes.
WP 7 Ethics requirements

7. Pre-Grant Requirements
10. Confirm that the research performed outside the EU is compatible with the Union, National and International legislation:
Partners confirm that the research performed outside the EU is compatible with the Union, National and International legislation and could have been legally conducted in one of the EU Member States.
11. It is required that an independent Ethics Advisor is appointed:
The appointment of an independent Ethics Advisor is foreseen in the DoA.
WP 7 Ethics requirements

8. Post-Grant Requirements
D7.1: Templates of the informed consent forms and information sheet must be submitted on request. The informed consent forms must be kept on file. [M1]
D7.2: If the applicants have concluded that personal data will be collected, then templates of the informed consent forms and information sheet must be submitted on request. [M1]
D7.3: If the project relies on the secondary use of personal data they have to provide evidence that the data is publicly available. [M6]
D7.4: The applicant must provide details on the data which will be imported to/exported from EU and provide the adequate authorisations, if required. [M1]
D7.5: A report by the Ethics Advisor must be submitted to the Agency together with the periodic reports. [M12]
WP 7 Ethics requirements

9. WP 7 Ethics requirements
Results D7.1: Templates of the informed consent forms and information sheet
Background: the proposed work includes interviews and questionnaires, including interviews with “middle-class urban dwellers”, i.e. potentially vulnerable subjects or subjects not able to give informed consent.
Templates have been submitted in M1 (Jan. 2018), including a template for informed consent from children and illiterate subjects.
Templates revised in March 2019 following advice from the Ethics Advisor, with:
reference to children removed;
translation of templates in Chinese provided.
During 1st reporting period, no interviews or questionnaires have been implemented.
Check if WP1 and WP4 had interviews or questionnaires
WP 7 Ethics requirements

10. WP 7 Ethics requirements
Results D7.2: Templates of the informed consent forms and information sheet in case of personal data collection
Templates have been submitted in M1 (Jan. 2018), including a template for informed consent from children and illiterate subjects.
Templates revised in March 2019 following advice from the Ethics Advisor, with:
reference to children removed;
translation of templates in Chinese provided.
During 1st reporting period, no interviews or questionnaires have been implemented.
AIT interview??
WP 7 Ethics requirements

11. WP 7 Ethics requirements
Results D7.3: Evidence that data is publicly available in case of secondary use of personal data
Deliverable submitted in M6 (June 2018):
Partners shall consider thoroughly whether their work relies on the secondary use of personal data or not, for which purpose they use personal data, and what evidence there is of the data being publicly available.
During 1st reporting period, there was no secondary use of personal data.
WP 7 Ethics requirements

12. WP 7 Ethics requirements
Results D7.4: Details on the data which will be imported to/exported from EU and provide adequate authorisations
Deliverable submitted in M5 (May 2018):
Data will be stored and processed, where it is generated – hence no data input or export is expected.
Location of data will be indicated in Deliverables and Reports/Publications.
During 1st reporting period, no data was imported or exported from non-EU countries to EU countries.
WP 7 Ethics requirements

13. WP 7 Ethics requirements
Results D7.5: A report by the Ethics Advisor must be submitted to the Agency together with the periodic reports
Deliverable submitted beginning of M13 (Jan. 2019):
Following a tendering process, the following person was appointed as independent Ethics Advisor to TRANS-URBAN-EU-CHINA:
Dr. Pak-Hang Wong, PhD Twente
Research Associate (PostDoc), Ethics in Information Technology
Universitaet Hamburg, Department of Informatics
GA, Ethics Summary Report and Deliverables were provided to Dr. Wong.
A WebMeeting took place on between the consortium partners and Dr. Wong.
Report from Ethics Advisor submitted as Annex to Part B of Periodic Report.
WP 7 Ethics requirements

14. Results Recommendations from Ethics Advisor
“Measures implemented by TRANS-URBAN-EU-CHINA are sufficient answers to the Ethics Requirements of the EC.”
Recommendations:
Include minor adjustments on the templates of Informed Consent Forms in relation to children and vulnerable subjects. → D7.1 and D7.2 resubmitted in 3/19
Clarify recruitment process of research participants with regards to children and vulnerable subjects.
Provide translated version of the templates of Informed Consent Forms and Information Sheet for non-English speaking research participants. → D7.1 and D7.2 resubmitted in 3/19
Establish Ethics Board in the Project Management structure, and to state the membership of the Ethics Board.
Document the Location of Data in Deliverables and in Data Management Plan, and to describe the technique(s) for Data Anonymization.
Implement Terms of Services in “The Online Community of Communities” (CoC).
WP 7 Ethics requirements

15. WP 7 Ethics requirements
Challenges
Selection process for appointing the Ethics Advisor has been challenging because from 12 persons invited to provide a quote, only 2 offers were received → delay in appointing the Ethics Advisor.
WP 7 Ethics requirements

16. WP 7 Ethics requirements
Outlook
Implementation of recommendations from Ethics Advisor.
Ongoing implementation of ethics requirements according to the ethics deliverables and the report by the Ethics Advisor.
Submission of 2nd Ethics Report with 2nd Periodic Report (Feb. 2021)
WP 7 Ethics requirements