King's College London

1. Assess the ethical, social and practical implications of using tools in situated and diverse contexts.
2. Identify and evaluate available concepts and normative approaches to develop a context-sensitive, just, systems-focused and reflexive framework for environmentally sustainable health research and tool use.
3. Co-design practical resources for research communities to use this framework in practice.
4. Develop a research community of practice to engage research communities with this approach.

This project brings together a research team across multiple countries (UK, Kenya, Ghana, Brazil and India) to explore the intricate issues relating to the use of tools in diverse research communities. Using interviews, photovoice, and collaborative workshops, we aim to unpack how these tools developed to address health research’s environmental harms are used in practice, including their challenges, across different cultures, countries and disciplinary contexts.

This project consists of four work packages:

1. To investigate what it means to use tools in different research contexts and how tools (mis)align with local values and epistemic cultures. As part of this objective, we will be carrying out interviews and workshops with health researchers across the five geographical contexts: the UK (Europe), Kenya and Ghana (Africa), India (Asia), and Brazil (Latin America).
2. To develop a conceptual and normative framework that supports context-sensitive, just, systems-focused and reflexive environmentally sustainable health research and tool use.
3. To design practical resources together with research communities to help our Research Community of Practice use tools in a way that is context-sensitive, just, systems-focused and reflexive.
4. To Develop a Research Community of Practice that will act through an online hub, including a series of digital resources and activities to engage research communities in critical/constructive thinking about environmentally sustainable health research and tool use.

This research moves beyond 'tool solutionism’ to develop more ethical, reflexive and context-sensitive sustainable practices in health research. By engaging with diverse research communities, we will co-design context-sensitive tools that reduce the environmental impact of health research that are:

a) fair and practical;
b) incorporate local knowledge and values of diverse geographical contexts;
c) avoid reinforcing power imbalances between research communities in high and low-resource settings.

Project Team

• Gabrielle Samuel, Lecturer in Environmental Justice and Health, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine.
• Federica Lucivero, Associate Professor in Ethics of Technology, Ethox Centre, University of Oxford.
• Mary Pitt, Research Community Manager, Ethox Centre, University of Oxford.
• Aida Hassan, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine.
• Manjulika Vaz, Senior Lecturer in the Division of Health and Humanities, St John’s Research Institute (Bangalore, India).
• Mercury Shitindo, Bioethicist, St Paul’s University, Kenya; Chair of the Africa Bioethics Network.
• Antonio Saraiva, Professor, Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Sao Paulo.
• Tadeu Fabricio Malheiros, Associate Professor in the Department of Hydraulics and Sanitation, University of Sao Paulo.
• Caesar Atuire, Senior Teaching and Research Associate, University of Oxford; Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Ghana.
• Daniela Vianna, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Sao Paulo.
• Loic Lannelongue, Senior Research Associate, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge.