On Monday 13 November 2024, the members of the Ethics in Common Committee met in Paris for a plenary session.

They elected to deal with a new referral on the ethical issues of participatory science and research. They exchanged views with researchers who are specialists in this field at IRD and Cirad; further exchanges with scientists from INRAE and Ifremer will be scheduled in January 2024. The Committee drafted a preparatory text for this new referral, which will be published in 2024.

During the meeting, the Ethics in Common Committee members also debated the first version of the Guidance on the current referral "Exploration, exploitation and preservation of unknown and moderately anthropised environments". This new Guidance will be published during the first semester of 2024.

The Guidance on the self-referral: "What are the rights and duties of scientists and their institutions when faced with environmental issues"? was approved at the previous meeting on 25 September 2023. This Guidance N°15 has now been published on the ‘Our Guidance’ page. The self-referral follows a request sent at the end of September 2022 by a researcher via the Committee's website. The Committee deemed the question worthy of consideration.

The next meeting of the Ethics Committee will be held on 15 January 2024.

_{Illustration: the members of the Ethics in Common Committee during a plenary session at Nantes on 15 May 2023 - Photo credit: IRD}