Collaboration with ethical boards and secured formal approvals on local levels

Abstract

H2020-SwafS-2020 101005931 - YouCount, 2.1 4
D2.1 Collaboration with ethical boards and secured formal approvals on local levels
This deliverable adds to the ethics requirements and safeguarding of ethical standards of the EU YouCount project by securing proper recruitment and informed consent procedures and ethics/safety considerations on local level, especially for participating youths under 18 years and vulnerable groups. The report shortly describes the establishment of collaboration with the local data protection office/ethical approval institutions and the Safety and Ethics Board (SEB) as well as procedures and status of formal ethics approvals of the multiple case- and evaluation studies according to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and national regulations.
The report is a continuation of the main procedures and principles for the YouCount project that are described in detail in D7.1 Ethics protection of personal data (POPD) Requirement No. 2, D6.2 Data Management Plan (DMP) and D6.6 Recruitment and Consent Procedures. The deliverable also relates to D1.2 Report on the Conceptual, Innovative, Evaluation and Ethical Framework for youth citizen social science (Y-CSS), which presents an ethical framework to address other ethical issues related to Y-CSS. All reports will provide a basis for D6.5 Final Report on Ethical Issues, which will be produced at the end of the project.
The vision of YouCount is twofold, addressing and combining both the scientific and societal needs of our time. The scientific vision of YouCount is to strengthen the transformative and participatory aspects of CS and social science, by enabling citizen participation in all facets, reaching out for a more egalitarian way of conducting science. The societal vision of YouCount is to contribute to create inclusive and innovative societies for European youths and to empower them in promoting active citizenship and a just and equitable future, particularly for youths with disadvantages.
D2.1 adds to the ethics requirements and ensuring of ethical standards of the EU YouCount project by securing proper recruitment and informed consent procedures and formal approvals in each case country as well as continuous ethical and safety deliberations, especially for participating youths under 18 years and vulnerable groups.
D2.1 describes how these fundamental rights and ethical principles will be ensured during the implementation period. The report briefly introduces the YouCount project and aims for this deliverable. Thereafter, it provides a description of recent measures that have been taken at project level for securing obligations pertaining General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and ethical requirements. These measures include the signing of a joint responsibility agreement for data processing between case partners as well as the continuous collaboration with SEB members. The report then provides updated information about the use of informed consent letters and the status of securing formal approvals from national supervisory bodies and ethics committees according to GDPR and national regulations in each partner country. Finally, the ongoing process of assessing formal approval for, the forthcoming YouCount app is described.