Ethics for life sciences engineers

As was noted in week 6, Engineers do not simply make up their own mind as to whether their behaviour is ethical: rather they normally have to justify their decisions, and this includes doing so before their peers in some way.  Where research involves humans or animals there is a formal – often legal – process for this. 

·       In Switzerland animal research is governed under the Ordonnance sur la protection des animaux (OPAn, 2008). In the canton in which EPFL is based, this means proposals to carry out research on animals are reviewed by the commissions cantonales sur l'expérimentation animale. 

·       For research with humans which concerns human diseases or the structure and function of the human body, this is governed by the loi relative à la recherche sur l'être humain (LRH, 2011); proposals to carry out this kind of research are reviewed by the Commission cantonale d'éthique de la recherche sur l'être humain. 

·       For other research with humans, each institution identifies its own ethical procedures.  In EPFL all other research involving humans is subject to review by the Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) which provides both an ethical review and a review of compliance with Swiss Data Protection Law (Nouvelle loi sur la protection des données, nLPD, 2023).

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