Strengthening Ethical Practices in Education in Emergencies (EiE) Research

Why focus on research ethics, and why now?

In 2025, as the Education in Emergencies (EiE) sector responds to growing complexity in polycrises across the world, the need for a robust evidence base to understand and address challenges, question and re-envision ways of working, and drive responses in these contexts has never been greater. 

At the same time, in order to ensure that this evidence base moves us towards localisation, the redressing of power imbalances, and anti-racist practice across the sector, the sector needs a strong commitment to ethical integrity. Without a focus on ethical standards and practices for research, the EiE sector risks generating research that is not grounded in crisis communities; not recognizing and building on multiple epistemologies, languages, and methodologies. We also risk promoting “evidence-based” educational interventions that perpetuate harm, deepen inequalities, and miss opportunities for long-term impact.

This emphasis on ethics is increasingly reflected in the humanitarian sector at large. Recent efforts to generate as well as mobilize and synthesize evidence for improved decision-making have emphasized fairness, equity, and justice in how evidence is produced and whose voices and perspectives are taken into account. 

In the EiE sector specifically, scholars have come together to reimagine how we might respond to the sector’s historical and current entanglements with structures of race, empire, and capitalism, and a key piece of this puzzle is knowledge production. The Data and Evidence Summit held in 2023, attended by many of the same scholars, surfaced several insights about power dynamics and imbalances in the EiE research ecosystem, particularly around the powerful role of funders, inequitable partnerships between Global North and South research institutions, and the lack of accountability structures for improved ethical practice. Participants also highlighted that continuous, collaborative learning and self-reflection is key to moving forward ethically.

These reflections on power and ethics in EiE research are especially relevant in the current moment, as the US government's recent stop-work orders and rollback of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives pose new challenges for the sector. As we look to reorient our work in a time of crisis, we have the chance to build on ethical principles to create a new normal.

How do we move forward? Practical takeaways

Building on work by EiE scholars over the last decade, recent research from the ERICC programme has contributed valuable insights to complement existing knowledge on ethical data collection and research design. These insights focus on systemic barriers to ethical research, and offer recommendations for how organisational decision-making at the funding and programme design level may help move the sector towards more equitable research practices. 

This framing grounds a series of blogs (linked below) to synthesize these insights into actionable reflections and questions for stakeholders in the EiE sector, while acknowledging that these questions may be limited, and that many actors play several roles at once.

In particular, this series will offer specific reflection questions and considerations for three groups of stakeholders: researchers, funders, and users of research. We hope that the reflections in this series can be the starting point for continuous, collaborative reflection and learning, and a greater awareness of the practical steps we can take, in our own capacities, to build a more ethical and just sector.

The Researcher’s Role in Moving Ethical Research Practice in EiE Forward

The Funder’s Role in Moving Ethical Research Practice in EiE Forward 

The Reader’s Role in Moving Ethical Research Practice in EiE Forward (coming soon)

New INEE Resource Collection: Existing Guidelines for Research Ethics in EiE (coming soon)