Section 5: Ethical Impact Assessment

This section offers a short overview of the framework for Ethical Impact Assessment (EIA). The framework can be used by the following organisations in the following ways:

  • For governance bodies to set up new regulations with regards to EA in R&I;
  • For research funding organisations (RFOs) to set up new procedures for conducting EIAs in the projects they fund;
  • For local research organisations and companies for setting up internal procedures for conducting an EIA in the R&I projects they organise.

Our framework presents the EIA process as a series of six stages: the EIA threshold analysis stage, the preparation stage, the ethical impact identification stage, the ethical impact evaluation stage, the remedial actions formulation stage, and the review and audit stage. Below, we outline the functions, the essential elements, and the specific procedural steps of each of these stages.

Table 1: Procedural steps of the ethical impact assessment process

1 Conduct An Eia Threshold Analysis

  1. Design the threshold analysis questionnaire
  2. Fill in the threshold analysis questionnaire
  3. Decide whether an EIA is needed

2 Formulate an Eia Plan

  1. Assess the scale of the EIA
  2. Review and approve the EIA plan
  3. Communicate the review

3 Identify The Ethical Impacts

  1. Conduct preliminary identification of the R&I project’s potential (future) ethical impacts through literature analysis of the impacts of similar R&I projects
  2. Further specify and identify additional potential ethical impacts through the use of both (1) foresight methods and (2) ethical impact identification methods
  3. Document the results of the ethical impact identification activities

4 Evaluate The Ethical Impacts

  1. Decide which methods should be used – desk research, expert consultation or participatory methods
  2. Conduct a contingency analysis to evaluate the likelihood of any ethical impacts occurring
  3. Assess the relative importance of ethical impacts
  4. Identify potential or actual value conflicts and, if possible, aim to resolve them
  5. Formulate workable conceptualisations of the relevant EIs

5 Formulate And Implement Remedial Actions

  1. Gather relevant information about remedial actions proposed by other R&I projects
  2. Formulate and implement design interventions
  3. Formulate different types of recommendations
  4. Document and communicate the remedial actions

6 Review And Audit The EIA Outcomes

  1. At the beginning of the EIA: set the milestones and criteria for the review and audit process
  2. During the EIA: evaluate the EIA documentation and the agreed upon criteria and milestones
  3. At the end of the EIA: ensure proper documentation, follow-up and signing off of the EIA
  1. 1. Threshold analysis

    The threshold analysis stage of an EIA determines the kind of EIA procedure that could be implemented in an R&I project.

    Why conduct a threshold analysis?

    • To determine whether or not an EIA is needed;
    • To assess the expected number and severity of the ethical impacts.

    Essential elements for a threshold analysis:

    • An overview of relevant ethical issues and ethical priciples.
    • A questionnaire, based on this overview;
    • Communication of the outcomes of the threshold analysis.
  2. 2. EIA plan

    The EIA plan determines the scale of the EIA (small-, medium-, and large-scale), the budget allocated to the EIA, and the EIA team composition

    Why create an EIA plan?

    • To determine what resources need to be allocted the EIA;
    • To adjust the design of the EIA to the outcomes of the threshold analysis.

    Essential elements for the EIA plan:

    • An appropriate budget for conducting the EIA;
    • An outline of the composition of the EIA team;
    • Review criteria for the EIA;
    • An assessment of the scale of the EIA;
    • Review and approval of the EIA plan.
  3. 3. Ethical impact identification

    At the ethical impact identification stage, the persons involved in the EIA attempt to identify all ethical impacts that could occur in the context of the R&I project and connect them to relevant ethical principles.

    Why conduct the ethical impact identification stage?

    • To describe probable futures regarding the ethical impacts of the R&I project;
    • To describe the relevant research outcomes that can lead to ethical impacts;
    • To identify ethical values and principles and relevant stakeholder interests regarding these impacts.

    Essential elements for the EI anticipation and determination stage:

    • Review relevant literature and, if deemed necessary, conduct a technology readiness level (TRL) analysis to determine the balance between the use of foresight methods and ethical impact identification methods;
    • Selection and use of foresight methods:1
      • For small-scale EIA, methods can include:
        • Horizon scanning;
        • An expert consultation;
        • Stakeholder consultation.
      • For mid-range EIA, methods can include:
        • Trend analysis;
        • Stakeholder brainstorm/futures wheel;
        • Road Mapping.
      • For full-scale EIA, methods can include:
        • Delphi interviews;
        • Citizen panels;
        • Scenario writing.
    • Selection and use ethical impact identification methods:
      • Conceptual investigations:
        • Ethical checklist approaches;
        • Use of ethical theories;
        • Situational approaches.
      • Empirical investigations:
        • Consolatory/consultative approaches (consulting stakeholders);
        • Techno-ethical scenario building (collaboratively come up with scenarios in which ethical impacts could occur).
  4. 4. Ethical impact evaluation

    The ethical impact evaluation stage is aimed at assessing the relative severity of the potential ethical impacts, the likelihood of their occurrence, and any potential value conflicts that may arise.

    Why conduct the EI evaluation stage?

    • To assess the relative importance of ethical impacts that have been identified.
    • To locate potential value conflicts and, where possible, to resolve them.
    • To find workable conceptualisations of the EIs and the ethical values/principles that apply to them.

    Essential elements for the EI anticipation and determination stage:

    • Select the appropriate methods:
      • Desk-research approaches
      • Expert consultations
      • Participatory approaches
    • Assess the relative importance of the ethical impacts:
      • To evaluate the normative importance of ethical impacts:
        • For basic EIA procedures: literature review and use of ethical theories.
        • For mid-range and full-scale EIA: Expert consultation and stakeholder engagement.
      • To evaluate the risk of violation of ethical principles/values involved:
        • For basic EIA: use outcomes of the contingency analysis.
        • For mid-range and full-scale EIA: consult experts for input on these outcomes.
      • To evaluate the severity of EIs:
        • For basic EIA: analyse factors of scale and intensity of ethical impacts.
        • For mid-range and full-scale EIA: consult experts for input on this analysis.
      • Identify and resolve (if possible) value conflicts:
        • Use five rules of thumb for determining appropriate procedures:
          1. Reference to ethical theories and/or widely acknowledged documents on human rights.
          2. Take the severity of EIs into account.
          3. Construct an ethical argument to resolve the value conflict.
          4. (Only for mid-range and full-scale EIA): consult stakeholders for balancing conflicting values.
          5. Formulate ways in which the EI can be avoided if negative, and promoted if positive.
      • Construct workable concepts:
        • Conduct a literature review.
        • Construct a definition of the relevant value/ ethical principle.
  5. 5. Remedial actions

    In the remedial actions stage, remedial actions may be designed and performed in response to the negative impacts found and analysed during EI anticipation & determination and EI evaluation stages.

    Why conduct a remedial actions phase?

    • To translate the earlier findings in the EIA into practical recommendations for the relevant stakeholders
    • To translate the earlier findings in the EIA into design interventions at the project level
    • To identify possible gaps between the earlier findings and practical possibilities for remedial actions and, if necessary, reiterate parts of the previous stages.

    Essential elements of the remedial actions:

    • Collect information about remedial actions from other R&I projects
    • Formulate and implement design interventions:
      • Articulate the relevant values
      • Investigate the empirical context of technology deployment
      • Alter the technological design of R&I outcomes
    • Formulate different types of recommendations:
      • Societal recommendations
      • Organisational recommendations
      • Regulatory recommendations
      • Policy recommendations
  6. 6. Review and audit stage

    The review and audit stage of an EIA ensures independent evaluation of the EIA process and, if necessary, independent corrective intervention in it.

    Why conduct a review and audit?

    • To provide constructive feedback for improving the execution of the EIA process.
    • To guard agreed-upon milestones and KPIs(key performance indicators) of the EIA process.

    Essential elements of a review and audit:

    • At the start of the EIA:
      • Formulate review and audit planning
      • Establish review and audit criteria (milestones, KPIs)
    • During the EIA:
      • Intermediate review(s): monitoring, evaluation, man- agement and communication of the EIA
      • Intermediate audit(s): review audit criteria and issue an opinion on the EIA progress
    • At the completion of the EIA:
      • Conduct a final review, with final EIA and review reports
      • Conduct final audit, with financial statement, portfolio of publications and follow-up actions
  1. See for more detailed information: EFP (2012). European Foresight Platform. accessed on October 2015.