D13.1 QUESTIONNAIRE TO ANALYSE THE ETHICAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES AND ASSESSMENT REPORT ON QUESTIONNAIRE ANSWERS

Abstract

This deliverable refers to the questionnaire implemented by WP13, addressed to all participating organizations in ENVRIplus, to investigate to what extent each RI involved in the project is aware of, and takes into consideration, ethical issues in relation to its scientific activities. The questionnaire, entitled “what do you know about ethics in geosciences?”, was developed following the collection and analysis of materials concerning ethical aspects already existing within scientific organizations and institutions all over the world (ethical codes, definitions, statements relative to ethics in the research activities). These documents consider different aspects of ethics, both theoretical and practical, which were then incorporated into our questionnaire. In particular these are:

• principles of research integrity and professional ethics; • aspects related to the impact on the environment that research activity may have; • aspects related to the repercussions of the research activities on the different categories of society (such as citizens, decision makers, politicians, local authorities, professionals, etc.), which are the end-users of the research activity and are interested in scientific data and results in different ways, on different levels, with different purposes.

The results of this questionnaire have been analyzed to identify common issues, recurring problems, aspects related to the stakeholders, to the data management, and to the societal impacts of the scientific activity. Moreover, the individual perception of ethical implications of the research activity for single participants in the project has been evaluated.