TITLE:
Meru University of Science and Technology Research Ethics Review System: A SWOT Analysis
AUTHORS:
Joses Muthuri Kirigia, Rosenabi Deborah Karimi Muthuri, Newton Gitonga
KEYWORDS:
Meru University of Science and Technology, Kenya, Institutional Research Ethics Review Committee, Research Ethics System, SWOTs Analysis
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biosciences and Medicines,
Vol.6 No.12,
December
5,
2018
ABSTRACT: The
objectives of this article are as follows: 1) to propose a university research
ethics system framework, 2) to provide a brief anatomy of the Meru University
of Science and Technology (MUST) Institutional Research Ethics Review Committee
(MIRERC), 3) to perform a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and
Threats) analysis of MIRERC, and 4) to make recommendations for improving its
performance. The 13-member
multi-disciplinary MIRERC was established in April 2017 to provide effective
ethical oversight of research undertaken by the University’s scholarly
community. Strengths of the MUST research ethics review system include a
functional MIRERC, a pertinent national law and ethical guidelines, an
Innovation and Enterprise Centre that could house a dedicated MIRERC
Secretariat, and a supportive University Management Board. The weaknesses
include lack of graduate schools to assure scientific rigor of proposals before
submission to the MIRERC, lack of research ethics training in most school’s
curricula, absence of a dedicated MIRERC Secretariat, undergraduate research
proposals being not
ethically reviewed, dearth of faculty trained in research ethics, and lack of
an operating budget for MIRERC work. The opportunities include existence of
about 22 accredited Institutional Research Ethics Review Committees (IRERC) in
Kenya, existence of international standards and operational guidance for ethics
review, availability of guidelines and codes of best ethical practices in
research, existence of a free automated platform called Research for Health
Innovation Organizer (RHInnO) Ethics for managing the ethics review process,
and availability of external resources for strengthening IRERCs. In order to
improve the performance and sustainability of the MUST research ethics system,
there is need to include research ethics training in all undergraduate and
post-graduate curricula, create a dynamic database of potential research ethics
reviewers, allocate a percentage of the annual MUST research budget for MIRERC
operations, charge a graduated fee for proposal ethics review, require all
students’ and
faculties’ internal and external research proposals be cleared by the MIRERC, and use the
RHInnO Ethics platform to manage the ethics review process.