ITANAGAR, 28 Dec: The Idu Mishmi Cultural and Literary Society (IMCLS), in support of the local communities and villagers of Dibang Valley district, has erected public notice boards at various places regarding seeking prior consent for any research activities or data appropriation.
Such boards will be set up in the rest of the places in the Mishmi Hills very soon, it said.
“Any data appropriation activities in the form of birding or research in any discipline at present requires prior consent of the IMCLS Research Ethics Review Board (RERB), in accordance with the Idu Mishmi Code of Research Ethics (IMCRE) framed and launch in 2024 by the IMCLS. Since then, many researchers have submitted their research proposals for assessment, evaluation and meaningful participation with the IMCLS,” it stated in a release.
The IMCRE was framed to bring about equal and meaningful community participation in the matter of responsible research activities, and to regulate unethical research practices. Since the formation of the RERB, many researchers have conveyed that they were unaware of the consent-seeking process prior to conducting research.
The objective of these boards is to disseminate wider public information that there is a certain community-driven process which researchers should take into consideration before venturing into data collection. The notice boards are part of a community awareness campaign to promote ethical research.
