Who are we? Includovate is an inclusive and innovative research incubator and social enterprise that designs solutions for inequality and exclusion amongst other areas. Includovate was established in 2019 to address an identified gap in the market: namely the development of participatory and innovative methodologies to understand the root causes of social exclusion and to develop change processes to support organisations, sectors and communities to tackle these challenges.
Ethical clearance — a priority Too often the Global South is considered a testing ground for medicines, health trials and experimentation. Ethics are frequently optional in the fight to end poverty. However, poverty can be ended ethically — according to Includovate. Includovate’s mission is to incubate transformative and inclusive solutions for measuring, studying, and changing discriminatory norms that lead to poverty, inequality and injustice. One of its roles is to review studies for ethical clearance. Some of these studies include sensitive and emotional issues such as children living with disabilities, access to services by women migrants, youth in agriculture etc. Includovate treats the protection of the rights and interests of participants with the utmost importance. To this end, the company established an Internal Ethical Review Board (IRB).
“Their purpose is to ensure that required steps are taken to protect the rights of humans participating in a research study and to strictly abide by a do-no-harm principle.” (Dr. Sujata Ganguly, IRB Chair)
Setting up the IRB The IRB was established in October 2019 as an independent committee with its first chair, Dr. Befikadu Esayas and Vice-Chair Elsabeth Belay. They developed the IRB guidelines after collecting feedback from Includovate researchers and from studying and consulting other IRBs. The IRB chair rotates every 12 months to provide an opportunity to understand the breadth and depth of Includovate’s research. In total there are 4 to 5 board members. To increase the IRB’s independence at least 2 members are external to Includovate.
The Internal Review Board (IRB) functions as an independent committee within Includovate and is led by its current chair, Dr. Sujata Ganguly. Relevant qualifications are extremely important to the integrity of the IRB so the chair must have a PhD; most members are either PhD holders, lawyers or have a strong research background.
The application processes The process involves applicants submitting their research protocol, which is reviewed by the board and returned to the applicant with a letter including comments and suggestions for revisions. When the IRB is satisfied with the quality and ethics of the study, it sends a letter of approval. The whole process from submission to approval takes a maximum of five days. Researchers need this platform to achieve better and more transparent research methods.
How Includovate operates?
The most important strength of Includovate’s IRB is “independence in collaboration.” This means that there is bidirectional independence: one is independence in the form of autonomy from Includovate staff or clients, and the other is freedom to express their views within the board. The IRB operates completely independently of influence from other departments of Includovate.
The CEO appoints the chair, mandates ethics certificates be completed by members, and ensures that the funds are available to do so. The IRB follows a mandate with ethical guidelines to respect the rights, protection and interests of research participants. All board members can review research applications independently and make their own interpretations before bringing them to the rest of the board to be discussed in a collaborative approach. The chair’s role is to help the board reach consensus and ensure the process is timely and ethical.
Includovate aims to maintain research quality and ethics regardless of the cost. The second important strength of the IRB is that all IRB members are required to complete the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative Program’s (CITI Program) Ethics Course. Akin to a university course, the CITI Program focuses on ethical reviews which consist of the prerequisite “foundational courses”. This helps members to discover their weaknesses and turns them into strengths, while also maintaining excellence in their existing strengths. The chair completes an additional IRB chair course.
Includovate also aims to ensure participants are prioritised. CEO of Includovate, Dr. Kristie Drucza said; “Taking into account the board members’ different backgrounds also reflects Includovate’s working culture. Includovate’s approach is to see diversity as enrichment. Includovate firmly believes and promotes knowledge generation as a multicultural, and locally-led. We try to overcome the western bias and dominance in knowledge generation. How can someone sitting in a rich country with consistent wifi and good library access have any idea of what it is like to live in a poor country where buying phone credit is a luxury and the internet a dream.”
Includovate’s IRB brings experts with different perspectives and backgrounds together to undertake common ethical training and apply this to the board’s impartial and collaborative review process. By merging this with the ethos of Includovate’s working culture, which fosters diversity and inclusiveness, a reliable and diverse internal review board sensitive to contemporary research ethics thrives. Thus, Includovate promotes the elimination of inequality and exclusion in the Global South.
Interested to join our IRB, apply!
🔍 We’re looking for a #ProBono external member for our Institutional Review Board (IRB) (min. 1 year).
📙 We’ll provide you access to complete your Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative #CITI Program which will grant you a completion certificate and an #IRB member course in a growing #feminist social enterprise!
📢 Tell us more about you if interested or nominate Senior Researchers/PhDs in the comments below or go to https://lnkd.in/g3csna3 or email an EOI at [email protected]
About the Author
Dr Sujata Ganguly is a social change researcher. Worked with BBC on user testing communication materials (mass media and mid-media) for comprehension of behaviour change interventions using various approaches. Conducted research on agriculture, maternal and child health, climate stresses, indigenous women, migration, and women entrepreneurship. Familiar with baseline, midline and evaluation studies/surveys. Comfortable with quantitative and qualitative methods, including bivariate and basic multivariate techniques using SPSS. Many peer-reviewed publications including on farmers, gender roles, and gender negotiations. PhD on migration and conjugal stress.
Also thanking, Deniz and Liya from the comms team — who also supported in the blog!
Includovate is a feminist research incubator that “walks the talk”. Includovate is an Australian social enterprise consisting of a consulting firm and research incubator that designs solutions for gender equality and social inclusion. Its mission is to incubate transformative and inclusive solutions for measuring, studying, and changing discriminatory norms that lead to poverty, inequality, and injustice. To know more about us at Includovate, follow our social media: @includovate, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram.