Completion of the PREPARED Project

On 31 August 2025, the PREPARED Project, which ran from 1 September 2022 to 31 August 2025 officially completed its works. The overall objective of the project was to develop an ethics and integrity framework to support rapid and effective research during global crises, safeguarding key ethical values, and improving overall crisis preparedness. 

The project, co-ordinated by Prof. Doris Schroeder at UCLan Cyprus, brought together an international network of private and public research funders, academics, policymakers, editors, international organisations, NGOs and citizens to analyse emergent research ethics and integrity challenges during pandemics and other global crises. The results from various consultations then informed the formation of an ethics and integrity.

Project outputs included:

1. an interdisciplinary, accessible, and jargon-free code of conduct for research during global crises.
2. ‘How to’ guidelines to support the needs of research teams.
3. Engaging training and capacity building materials, to be disseminated across the Globe. 

The project consortium engaged 16 partner teams from three continents, among which ICLAIM led Work Package 4 on the development of Guidelines, Supplements and Policy Tools under the leadership of Prof. Stéphanie Laulhé Shaelou, Founding Director of ICLAIM. ICLAIM Resident Experts joining the project included Prof. Nearchos Paspallis, Dr. Nicos Kasenides, Dr. Katerina Antoniou, Dr. Andreas Marcou, Dr. Katerina Kalaitzaki, Dr. Josephina Antoniou and Dr. Nadia Kornioti.

Over the three years of the project, the ICLAIM team participated in the production of the following deliverables: 

• The PREPARED Global Code of Conduct for Research During Pandemics.
• A Freedom from Harassment for Scientists Report 
• The PREPARED Ethics Policy Brief which advocates for the inclusion of the African Union in the G20 for ethical reasons (G21). 
• The PREPARED Ethics Policy Brief on ‘Achieving Equitable Research Partnerships by Facilitating Visas for Short-Term Researcher Mobility’.
• The PREPARED App containing easily accessible interactive training materials for researchers across the globe.
• Recommendations for expediting ethics review during times of crisis 

All training materials are easily accessible without charge at a repository on the PREPARED @ Embassy of Good Science.

For direct access to all of the project’s resources, including reports, academic publications and deliverables from 2022 to 2025, visit the project website at: https://prepared-project.eu.