Focus for 2025: Indigenous peoples and national minorities, and Artificial Intelligence

Each year, two topcs are chosen to be unifying for the joint activities in NREC. This year, resources on these topics will also be gathered on dedicated pages at FEK's website.

— The two overarching topics we will work on across committees, commissions and secretariat will continue from 2024 and are artificial intelligence (AI) and indigenous peoples and national minorities. The topics range widely, but what they have in common is that they show how research ethics is part of a larger societal context, in the past, present and future, says General Director Helene Ingierd.

Further exploration on relevant topics

Indigenous peoples and national minorities was put on the agenda by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report on the Norwegianisation policy and injustice against Sámi, Kvens / Norwegian Finns and Forest Finns. The report thematises the role of research in the Norwegianisation process.

— Both of these topics are also high on the agenda in the international discourse on research ethics, says Ingierd.

Relevant issues concern respect for research participants and obtaining consent, risks associated with the use of AI, and fair sharing and use of research data. The topic facilitates important reflection and conversations about gross injustices committed in the name of research.

— Many of the research ethics issues that apply to research with indigenous peoples and national minorities arise because of conditions in the past and historical injustices. For example, questions are raised about whether researchers today have a particular responsibility in research on indigenous peoples and national minorities due to previous unethical research, Ingierd explains.

What responsibilities do researchers have?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a topic that occupies and influences the research community across disciplines. Technological development is moving fast, and the government has a strong focus on research related to AI. NREC works with issues related to the independence of research, internal norms in the research community, integrity and human dignity, and the impact AI has on society and nature.

— There is widespread agreement that AI research creates new opportunities, as well as challenges and uncertainties. Central questions include what researchers can and should do, as well as their responsibility for the potential consequences of AI use, says Ingierd.

In addition to the topic page, one of the products NREC by the National Committee for Research Ethics in Science and Technology (NENT) is working on this year, will be an anthology about AI. This aims to assist researchers and research institutions in promoting ethically sound research. The anthology seeks to illuminate various research ethics considerations related to AI across different disciplines. NENT is also continuing their webinar series on the topic, aiming to facilitate the exchange of experiences and foster debate.

International and national cooperation on the agenda

Both topics that NREC will work on this year are also high on the agenda in the international discourse on research ethics. The World Conference on Research Integrity (WCRI), where Ingierd contributes to the planning committee, has selected the same topics for the conference, which will take place in Vancouver in May 2026.

— The topics are also addressed at our open meetings throughout the year, first at the Annual Conference on March 13th, which is a meeting place for committees, commissions and the secretariat. Among other things, we are gaining insights from working on separate guidelines for research involving indigenous peoples from Australia and Canada, Ingierd explains.

In April, NREC will host the semi-annual meeting of ENRIO (European Network for Research Integrity Offices), and KI will be included on the agenda. 

Assisting the Research Council

In 2025, NREC will also assist other actors in the research system. NREC has developed a tool that the Research Council can use when they, starting in 2025, require a research ethics self-assessment in application.

— The purpose of the tool for self-assessment is to help researchers and others who apply to identify the key research ethics dimensions in a project and point to key resources that can guide them in dealing with these. In 2025, we will continue the dialogue with the Research Council about this tool, says Ingierd.

NREC will also continue the dialogue with SIKT (the Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research) on privacy and research ethics, and will arrange an open meeting with them.