Ethics (including gender and equity) in co-creation for public health

This project is part of the overarching Work Package (WP) 1 which has the aim to develop an evidence-based co-creation methodology. Within WP1, several ESRs will work on a specific foundation, including Theory and Ethics (WP1a), Methods (WP1b) and Implementation and Evaluation (WP1c).

The project of this ESR is part of WP1a and focuses on ethical issues and challenges related to co-creation. This ESR will work very closely together with ESR1 (based in Amsterdam), who focuses on the co-creation principles.

Based on an extensive literature review, expert consultations and input from real-life co-creation studies, a guide with ethical considerations will be developed. This is important, as boundaries between researchers and research participants begin to fade in such research. It should be carefully considered, for example, how participants’ personal experiences are shared and reported and how their needs and expectations are balanced with the needs and expectations of the research centres. Specific attention will be given to equity (gender, ethnicity, etc.).

The supervising board consists of five persons (prof. Maïté Verloigne and prof. Benedicte Deforche from Ghent University; prof. Mai Chin A Paw and prof. Teatske Altenburg from Amsterdam UMC and a staff member from the non-academic sector) with a lot of expertise in participatory and co-creation research in health promotion. The ESR will work and be located at Ghent University in the research group Health Promotion (department of Public Health and Primary Care, the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences).