On 21-23 May 2024, the PREPARED Consortium, advisors and long-term collaborators of the PREPARED project were hosted at the Amsterdam UMC, The Netherlands to discuss ongoing progress and map the aims and activities ahead of entering the third and final year of the project.  

The primary objective of the event was an in-depth discussion of the earliest draft of the project’s flagship deliverable, the PREPARED Code – A Global Code of Conduct for Research during Pandemics. The discussion was complemented by the official launch of the PREPARED App, which contains accessible case studies and training materials on research ethics and integrity at times of crisis. 

In addition, the Consortium took the opportunity to revisit the topic of vulnerability in light of the most recent findings of the project and the building of new collaborations concerning the involvement of healthy volunteers in research during crises. Based on the experience gathered during the first year and a half of the PREPARED project, the Consortium took the collective decision to produce a second Code of Conduct. A supplement to the TRUST Code, which would focus on research in fragile settings, and would complement both the TRUST and the PREPARED Codes. 

Finally, during the event two books were launched. One entitled ‘Vulnerability revised: Leaving no one behind in research, and the book ‘All Rise: Tales of Human Rights and Wrongs’ by South African human rights lawyer, Dr Roger Chennells. For the duration of the event, participants had the opportunity to interact with the PREPARED See Saw installation set up by the PREPARED partners in Amsterdam, which invites users to reflect on the difficulties that arise when called to take complex decisions at time of heightened ethical dilemmas during a pandemic.   

A detailed report on the whole event is available here.

white text white text

Written by: Nadia Kornioti UCLan Cyprus