i-CONSENT Workshop with IBC members

Jan 17, 2019

On January 31st the i-CONSENT Consortium will gather in Rome to provide an overview of main findings of i-CONSENT Project and to discuss comments elaborated by IBC members. The Consortium will also identify any gap in i-CONSENT work and suggest actions to improve strategies aimed at increasing participation of human subjects from multicultural backgrounds in clinical trials.

UNESCO Chair Director, Prof. Alberto Garcia will analyze Informed Consent from a multicultural and interreligious perspective.

Follow this link to read the program.  

Expected participants from UNESCO IBC and Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata” :

Stefano Semplici Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”
Johannes JM van Delden UNESCO IBC
Dafna Feinholz UNESCO IBC
Derrick Aarons UNESCO IBC
Pamela Andanda UNESCO IBC
Dirceu Bartolomeu Greco UNESCO IBC
Richard Magnus UNESCO IBC
Federico Jääskeläinen Montalvo UNESCO IBC
Evariste Likinda UNESCO IBC
Marie-Genevieve Pinsart UNESCO IBC
Lizbeth Sagols Sales UNESCO IBC
Delia Maria Sanchez Varela UNESCO IBC
Yuthavong Yongyuth UNESCO IBC
Paulina Tindana UNESCO IBC

Informed Consent Seminars – LUMSA University

Nov 26, 2018 | News

 

By Santiago Marcet –

On October 10th and November 12nd, Prof. Alberto Garcia, Director of UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights, attended LUMSA’s venues in Rome and Palermo to give a presentation on the details of the European project of i-CONSENT, as well as to explain the intricacies that go along the practical and theoretical notion of informed consent (IC) in clinical research.

On a theoretical level, Prof. Garcia highlighted the importance of taking into consideration the factors of gender, age and cultural and religious background if one’s approach to constitute successful patterns of informed consent is to be effective. Thinking about these vulnerability factors will help consolidate i-CONSENT as a person-centered project, as it considers how the above mentioned factors change the way in which patients understand information and communicate with others.

He also approached the tensions that arise from a conceptualization of IC that depends on a notion of individual autonomy that is not shared by all cultures and religions: while western culture tends to give importance to the individual and his or her rights, eastern traditions use to put more weight on community and the duties that derive from it. Thinking about how each major religious tradition (namely Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Islam) views IC in accordance to their doctrine and traditions will help to outline defined goals for the effectiveness of i-CONSENT.

Prof. Garcia went on to talk about the practical expected outcomes of the project: i-CONSENT intends to be beneficial both for patients and researchers, in a way that will benefit society as a whole. In its person-centered approach it will develop different tests and will aim to involve different physicians in accordance to the profile of the patient, effectively incorporating its principles with their presence on regulatory bodies and ethics groups. The overall goal, according to Prof. Garcia, is to increase the standards of clinical research by making IC form and the whole process more comprehensive and mindful of the patient’s particularities.

You can read more about the i-CONSENT project as it is approached by the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights here: http://www.unescobiochair.org/2017/06/02/new-eu-project-works-on-improving-guidelines-for-informed-consent-including-vulnerable-populations-under-a-gender-perspective/

Visit i-CONSENT’s official website: https://i-consentproject.eu/

Civic Dimensions for Social Inclusion – CivicAL

Nov 10, 2018 | News

Civic Dimensions for Social Inclusion – CivicAL

Follow the Official Facebook Page @Civicalproject 

The UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights for the last year has been involved and active in raising awareness of the situation of migrants and refugees in Europe, specifically in Italy. Within the project European Citizens for Solidarity (EUROSOL), co-funded by the Europe for Citizens programme of the European Union, the UNESCO Chair was committed to overcome the misconceptions regarding migrants and refugees in Italy by organizing a debate on  “Human Dignity and Human Rights of Refugees”.

As a continuation of this project, the UNESCO Chair has signed an agreement to participate in Civic Dimensions for Social Inclusion (CivicAL) project within the Erasmus + programme coordinated by the Altius Francisco de Vitoria Foundation, Spain. The aim of this project, which started in October 2018 and will end in September 2020, is to give to migrant and refugee adults access to civic education to integrate more fully into the community. In other words, CivicAL is responding to the increasing demands of the European Union (EU) to be a large family of multiethnic and multicultural societies, to witness in each state to a growing diversity due to the migration flows where a national cultural identity is compatible with a European identity.

While much has been done, the level of knowledge of the EU, its policies and institutions, is not enough. This is particularly valid for adults in disadvantaged situations, such as those who are migrants, of an ethnic minority background, refugees and recently arrived migrants. The current proposal will address the gap in civic education for adults in disadvantaged situation in six EU countries. The consortium is composed of Bulgaria, Cyprus, Germany, Italy, Romania, and Spain from different public and private sectors. In two years, the consortium is going to develop the Trainer’s Manual entitled “Civic Education for Disadvantaged Learners” and the EU citizenship game, both translated into six EU languages.

The UNESCO Chair team involved in this project will be focused on:

  • Organizing the kick off meeting;
  • Developing unit 3 of the manual: EU citizens’ rights and responsibilities;
  • Developing level 2 of the game: Learn the citizens’ rights and responsibilities
  • Organizing Regional CivicAL Forum to disseminate the development CivicAL output, tested and available for free use by the project targets.
  • Opening and managing Facebook Group.

Moreover, to facilitate the aforementioned project, the UNESCO Chair will also provide a Code of Ethics to guide the work of the consortium.

“As Professor of Philosophy of Law, International Law, and Chairholder of UNESCO Chair, I granted the request to participate in CivicAL project, because I think it is fundamental to understand that on one hand migrants’ rights need to be respected, and on the other, migrants have their responsibilities towards the host countries. Education is a pillar in the existence of a person, a tool that frees minds and gives access to opportunities. As a UNESCO Chair, which seeks to Foster the Art of Convergence and Cooperation in Global Ethics, in EU, it is our duty to provide education tools to migrants, but it is also their responsibility to be committed to it.” Alberto Garcia, Chairholder of UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights.

Meterials 

Flyer of the project

English Version

Italian Version

E-newsletters

Issue N1

Issue N2

Issue N3

O1 – Trainer’s Manual

Trainers Handbook Italian Version

Trainers handbook English Version

Video – Extracts from “Multiculturalism and Interreligious Perspective on Informed Consent” Workshop

Jul 31, 2018 | News

 

The UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights hold its 6th international Bioethics, multiculturalism and religion workshop to discuss issues of informed consent and clinical research on February 21-23. As part of the i-Consent consortium (a project funded by the European Union – Horizon 2020), the ethical reflections of the workshop focused on the multicultural and interdisciplinary dimension of the ethical requirements of informed consent applied to transnational / clinical research and vaccination.