Precarious Times, Professional Tensions: The Ethics of Migration Research and the Drive for Scientific Accountability

How should migration scholars navigate tensions between our ethical responsibilities to research participants and growing “open science” calls for data transparency, replication, and accountability? We elaborate a three-step process to navigate these tensions. First, researchers must understand core principles behind open-science initiatives and the mandates of research ethics boards, especially those related to privacy, confidentiality, and protection from harm, and take them seriously. Second, migration researchers must think beyond routinized or mandated procedures to carefully consider the unique vulnerabilities of migrants in their study, which depend on socio-political context. Third, if vulnerabilities are significant, migration researchers should modify (or challenge) procedures elaborated in the name of open science or routinized research ethic board mandates, if inappropriate for their study. We, thus, encourage migration scholars to engage with open-science advocates but also to educate colleagues on migrants’ vulnerabilities and to double-down on data security, including vis-à-vis government authorities, as evolving technologies continue to change research practices.

The Involvement of Stakeholders in Promoting the Wellness of Juvenile Offenders in Selected South African Correctional Schools

The main focus of the study was to explore the involvement of stakeholders in promoting the wellness of juvenile offenders in South African correctional schools. Two teachers and three juveniles were purposefully selected to complete open ended questionnaires from two juvenile centres in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The major aim of the study was to identify how different stakeholders can facilitate the attainment of wellness among juvenile offenders. The ubuntu and wellness theories were used as lenses to carry out the study. Research ethic procedures were followed. In order to get livid experience of participants, qualitative method was used to collect and analyse data. Findings revealed that stakeholder involvement varied with some being more involved while others were lacking. This compromised effective rehabilitation. It was recommended that the involvement of stakeholders should be intensified in order to have a greater impact on the rehabilitation of juvenile offenders.

The Health Reframing of Climate Change and the Poverty of Narrow Bioethics

We must resist thoroughly reframing climate change as a health issue. For human health–centric ethical frameworks omit dimensions of value that we must duly consider. We need a new, an environmental, research ethic, one that we can use to more completely and impartially evaluate proposed research on mitigation and adaptation strategies.