A network of empirical ethics teams embedded in research programmes across multiple sites: opportunities and challenges in contributing to COVID-19 research and responses.

Covid-19 continues to teach the global community important lessons about preparedness for research and effective action to respond to emerging health threats. We share the COVID-19 experiences of a pre-existing cross-site ethics network-the Global Health Bioethics Network-which brings together researchers and practitioners from Africa, Europe, and Southeast Asia. We describe the network and its members and activities, and the work-related opportunities and challenges we faced over a one-year period during the pandemic. We highlight the value of having strong and long-term empirical ethics networks embedded across diverse research institutions to be able to: 1) identify and share relevant ethics challenges and research questions and ways of 'doing research'; 2) work with key stakeholders to identify appropriate ways to contribute to the emerging health issue response - e.g., through ethics oversight, community engagement, and advisory roles at different levels; and 3) learn from each other and from diverse contexts to advocate for positive change at multiple levels. It is our view that being embedded and long term offers opportunities in terms of deep institutional and contextual knowledge, existing relationships and access to a wide range of stakeholders. Being networked offers opportunities to draw upon a wide range of expertise and perspectives, and to bring together internal and external insights (i.e.drawing on different positionalities). Long term funding means that the people and resources are in place and ready to respond in a timely way. However, many tensions and challenges remain, including difficulties in negotiating power and politics in the roles that researchers and research institutions can and should play in an emergency, and the position of empirical ethics within research programmes. We discuss some of these tensions and challenges and consider the implications for our own and similar networks in future.

Expert voices and equal partnerships: establishing Controlled Human Infection Models (CHIMs) in Vietnam.

The number of controlled human infection models (CHIMs) conducted worldwide has increased considerably in recent years, although few have been conducted in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), where infectious diseases have the greatest burden. Recently Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU) in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) started developing CHIM research proposals motivated by the need to develop a clearer and more grounded understanding of the issues surrounding the conduct of CHIMs in LMICs. To explore initial perceptions and barriers to conducting CHIMs in Vietnam, OUCRU researchers conducted a set of key stakeholder interviews early in 2018 and held a CHIM workshop in HCMC in March 2018. This paper summarizes the discussions from the workshop and outlines a way forward for conducting CHIMs in Vietnam.