International research or research across borders may make researchers feel excited about the possibility of travel and research across borders, however, research of this nature presents challenges as cultural appropriateness, local adjustments, rules, and norms of the travel must be considered when developing a research study.
“Research Across Borders” is a blog series that builds from Jonthon Coulson’s Research Writing & Ethics intern work and guides created in collaboration with Office of Global Engagement and Office of Risk Management to prepare new researchers for research across borders including logistics and practical considerations when developing a research study across borders in international settings.
The third post in this blog series, titled, “Protecting the Researcher” explores the current protocol and procedures established by the Office of Risk Management and the Office of Global Engagement to combat emergencies when abroad.
Imagine that it is the year 2020. You traveled overseas to conduct research when you received news about a new virus. You have never heard of it before, but you are not too concerned and you continue your research. A week has passed and all of a sudden the country you are in has a lockdown. You try to book a flight back to the U.S., but all of the flight prices are over-inflated and countries all over the world are imposing new travel restrictions, leading to thousands of canceled flights. You are stuck in a foreign country during the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic. What do you do?
Protecting the Researcher
While the primary purpose of the IRB is to protect the rights and welfare of human subjects involved in research studies, it is just as important to protect the rights and welfare of the researcher, especially in a foreign country. Researchers are especially vulnerable if something were to happen to them abroad, as they may not have access to the same resources they would have in the U.S. In addition, some researchers may seek research sites that are difficult to get to or in a dangerous locations.
To protect researchers traveling abroad, the Office of Risk Management and the Office of Global Engagement (when appropriate) protocols and resources for emergencies that may occur. To help researchers become familiarized with the protocols and resources for international travel, the Office of Risk Management, Office of Global Engagement, and TC IRB has created the international travel guide and international travel checklist. The TC IRB requires all researchers conducting research across borders to include documentation in their IRB protocol submission that they have been approved to travel from the Office of Risk Management and the Office of Global Engagement (when appropriate). If a researcher does not have approval from all three offices, the researcher cannot conduct research abroad.
As part of the approval process for research involving human participants, an approval process is also required by TC to allow researchers to travel abroad to protect the researcher. For the safety of the researcher and the participants, it is important that the researcher gets the green light from the Office of Risk Management, the Office of Global Engagement (when appropriate), and TC IRB before they travel abroad.
Researchers are required to identify potential risks associated with their research and the action they will take to mitigate risk. Depending on the risk level, researchers may be asked to submit their risk assessment to the IRB for review. The risk assessment process is a careful examination of what could cause harm, who/what could be harmed and how.
Consult these resources TC IRB, TC IRB International Research, International Compilation of Human Research Standards, Office of Global Engagement, TC IT, Environmental Health and Safety, Office of Risk Management, Office of Sponsored Programs, Office of Teacher Education, Office of Access & Services for Individuals with Disabilities, Office of International Students and Scholars, and Human Resources, to find out more about ways to protect yourself and others when conducting research across borders.