Basis

As part of a transdisciplinary field of research the Institute of Evolutionary Medicine (IEM) wants to actively engage in setting sustainable standards for all aspects of research with and on human remains, and therefore complement the ethical discussion for issues of excavation and exhibition.

It is with this idea that Frank Rühli has proposed a special “Ethics Symposium” at the 7th International Mummy Congress in San Diego (June 2011), and that we went to present our take on the practical implications of the ethics that come with evidence-based research on human remains and mummies in particular. You can find the major contributions of that symposium down below. The interest has been overwhelming and the feedback that we received was inspiring for the next steps that lead to publish the IEM’s Code of Conduct.
We especially received a lot of pointers in the field of excavation and exhibition (also re: the particular field of Egyptian mummies). Unfortunately, the IEM is not profiscient in these particular fields and the upcoming papers and the Code of Conduct will focus on the ethical problems that arise from current research done here at the IEM (such as aDNA extraction, radiation imaging, cell preparations etc. etc.).

For that reason the IEM has launched “ethics” as a part of its services tightly linked to our core services and our overall goal of contributing to scientific progress, inform and teach a larger public and society in general about our research, and show transparency in our protocols.

Practical Ethics

Our first attempt in “doing ethics” refers to its practical or applied dimension of doing science and is intended to provide practical guidance or orientation for researchers in the field and especially working here at the IEM. The core interest of such “practical ethics” is the development and implementation of an internal code of conduct for research with human remains. This code of conduct applies to all research projects at the IEM where human remains or parts of human remains are used in scientific, educational, or professional areas of work (Code to be published soon). Based on practical standards the code is designed to assist researchers in their research in a sustainable, ethically justifiable way.

Publications/Conferences:

7th International Mummy Congress, San Diego (June 2011): Conceptual thoughts on developing a code of conduct (San Diego, one slide)

Theoretical Groundwork

Besides the practical dimension of our work, we stress the importance of theoretical groundwork for any way of ethical rationalization. Therefore our second interest lies in meta-theoretical questions (e.g. ethics of doing and the ethics of not doing a certain kind of research) and the historical background of the whole ethical discussion on human remains (e.g. questions of posthumous interests, harm, etc. etc.).

Projects:

Define the theoretical background and the history of ideas behind research on and with human remains.

Publications/Conferences:

Without informed consent? Ethics and ancient mummy research (JMedEthics July, 2010)

Ethical Issues for Research with Human Remains – Stakeholder Theory (Presented at the 7th Mummy Congress, San Diego, full presentation)

Applied Ethics of Ancient Mummy Research – Historical and Theoretical Background (Presented at the 7th Mummy Congress, San Diego, full presentation)