There is growing concern in Queensland about the conduct of health research meeting Indigenous research ethical principles and standards. Key stakeholders raised these concerns during consultations within the national review of Indigenous research ethics commissioned by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
Although the final report is yet to be released, some discussions noted the absence of a Queensland based accredited ethics review body, like that of New South Wales Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council (AHMRC) and Western Australia Aboriginal Human Ethics Committee (WAAHEC), to coordinate Indigenous ethical review of health research.
The establishment of such accredited state based Indigenous research ethics review committees indicates a lack of confidence by Indigenous peoples in other institutionally based research ethics boards and their review / approval processes. This also indicates that Indigenous people want to have leadership, control and appropriate representation in the review of research ethics applications.
This raises the question on whether there should be one centralised Indigenous research ethics review and approval process nationally or increase the number of state and territory based review bodies. As a researcher, I often lament on the number of approval processes that are required to undertake research with Indigenous people. However, given the number of research projects that have been undertaken in Indigenous communities that have not led to sustainable benefit or impact, one can see why there is disillusionment by Indigenous people about research “on” Indigenous people.
You can view Prof Adrian Miller’s Griffith University biography here.
You can contact Prof Adrian Miller at adrian.miller@griffith.edu.au
This blog may be cited as:
Miller, A. (2016, 24 March) Can you hear us? The Queensland experience of health research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Research Ethics Monthly Retrieved from: https://ahrecs.com/human-research-ethics/can-hear-us-queensland-experience-health-research-aboriginal-torres-strait-islander-people
