Program Summary
Biomedical research has been increasing exponentially in the last few decades, requiring a
parallel growth in research ethics capacity. Low Middle Income Countries [LMIC] face striking
health care issues due to socioeconomic, cultural, religious, and political turmoil, and need
better research to find solutions for those issues. Pakistan, the fifth largest country of the world
by population, is trying to increase research capacity for health care issues affecting local
populations mandating a supporting effort to build research ethics resources. The proposed
program is one such effort.
Enabling Ethical Research (EnablER): A Capacity Building Program in Pakistan, the
planned project, will have three main aims; 1) Develop a curriculum for two-year advanced
level Master of Bioethics program with special emphasis on Research Ethics, 2) Deliver a two-
year advanced level Master of Bioethics program, and 3) Conduct a needs-assessment of
Research Ethics and Bioethics in leading academic centres of Pakistan through a mixed
method approach.
This advanced level Master program is for mid-career professionals from different
disciplines enabling them to become leaders in the field capable of spearheading similar
programs in their own institutions and carrying out high-quality research on the contextual
ethical issues. The successful implementation of this program is expected to translate into
improving the overall quality/standards of Bioethics in the four domains namely; research
ethics, clinical ethics, public health ethics, and organizational ethics, with research being
integrated in each domain. The program will be offered on a part-time basis to health
professionals, researchers, pharmacists, physiotherapists, hospital administrators, in addition
to health ministry officials and policy makers, lawyers, medical journalists, social scientists,
philosophers among others, residing in Pakistan. Additionally, the proposal includes a country-
wide mapping exercise of research ethics-related capacity in the country. This is expected to
provide information on the manpower needs, and ethics infrastructure of institutions, which
may be helpful for policy making, resource allocation, and planning of similar training
programs.
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