The International Charter for Ethical Research Involving Children is an aspirational statement of seven key commitments aimed at elevating the status, rights and well-being of all children involved in research. It has been written with and for researchers and others who are committed to children and to fulfilling their responsibility to undertake quality, ethical research, irrespective of context.
You can make a public commitment to upholding the principles of the ERIC Charter below.
You can download a pdf of the ERIC Charter in English, français, español, 한국어, Türkçe and Bahasa Indonesia.
International Charter for Ethical Research Involving Children
As a research community working with children, we are committed to undertaking and supporting high quality ethical research that is respectful of children’s human dignity, rights and wellbeing. The following seven commitments guide our work:
Ethics in research involving children is everyone’s responsibility
We, the research community, including all who participate in undertaking, commissioning, funding and reviewing research, are responsible for ensuring that the highest ethical standards are met in all research involving children, regardless of research approach, focus or context.
Respecting the dignity of children is core to ethical research
Ethical research is conducted with integrity and is respectful of children, their views and their cultures. Involving children respectfully requires that researchers recognise children’s status and evolving capacities and value their diverse contributions.
Research involving children must be just and equitable
Children involved in research are entitled to justice. This requires that all children are treated equally, the benefits and burdens of participating are distributed fairly, children are not unfairly excluded and that barriers to involvement based on discrimination are challenged.
Ethical research benefits children
Researchers must ensure that research maximizes benefits to children, individually and/or as a social group. The researcher bears primary responsibility for considering whether the research should be undertaken and for assessing whether research will benefit children, during and as a consequence of the research process.
Children should never be harmed by their participation in research
Researchers must work to prevent any potential risks of harm and assess whether the need to involve the individual child is justified.
Research must always obtain children’s informed and ongoing consent
Children’s consent must always be sought, alongside parental consent and any other requirements that are necessary for the research to proceed ethically. Consent needs to be based on a balanced and fair understanding of what is involved throughout and after the research process. Indications of children’s dissent or withdrawal must always be respected.
Ethical research requires ongoing reflection
Undertaking research involving children is important. Ethical research demands that researchers continually reflect on their practice, well beyond any formal ethical review requirements. It requires ongoing attention to the assumptions, values, beliefs and practices that influence the research process and impact on children.
Make a public commitment to upholding the principles of the Charter within your work by joining our list of signatories.
Your name will be displayed below as a show of your public commitment to ethical research involving children. Please allow 7 days to be published.
List of Inaugural Signatories…
Journals
Journal of Childhood, Education and Society
Childhood
Children and Society
Barn – Research on children and childhood in the Nordic region
Aotearoa/ New Zealand
Paul Flanagan
Fathimath Shiraani
Eliza Raymond
Megan Gollop
Alexandra C. Gunn
Sonya Gaches
Miriam Mylvaganam
Nicola Taylor
Adika Cremet
Jennifer Braithwaite
Anna Carr
Heike Schanzel
Kirsten Hanna
Mary Ann Powell
Judith Loveridge
Beverley Coombridge
Belgium
Kaat Verhaeghe
Sara Lembrechts
Kata Dozsa
Belize
Libby Martinez
Brasil/ Brazil
Ana Alice Esteves
Tiago Madalozzo
Lívia Dias
Carolina Terra
Denmark
Jon Eilenberg
Ecuador
Ródyka Enríquez
Egypt
Essam Ali
Eswatini
Michelle Brear
Finland
Kwok Ng
France
Adem Arkadas-Thibert
Lauren Stephens
Karima Gacem
The CYRA Service
Fabienne Hejoaka
Claire O’Kane
French Polynesia
Julia Truscott
India
Priti Joshi
Devina Sarwatay
Rashmi Rangarajan
Ronald Yesudhas
Abdul Azeez E P
Santanu Tripathi
Indonesia
Suparman Samsidi
Iran
Hamidreza Vasheghanifarahani
Ireland
Cadhla O’Sullivan
Katie McQuillan
Geraldine Scanlon
Aideen Howard
Robbie Gilligan
Harry Shier
Ronan Healy
Jane Hession
Colette Saunders
Aoife Daly
Italy
Valentina Pagani
Caterina Arciprete
Myanmar
Myo Myint Htun
Uganda
Nangiro Benjamin
United States of America
Katherine Lapham
Kelli Henry
John Wall
Kirsten Pontalti
Jodi Jakylovich
Michael Archambault
Australia
Stefania Velardo
Kate Neale
Meaghan Vosz
Tess Boyle
Antonia Canosa
Anne Graham
Sophie Wright-Pedersen
Menka Tsantefski
Kathryn Seymour
Kerry Smith
Prue Atkins
Centre for Children and Young People
Digability
Sharon Bessell
Tim Moore
Redkite
Meg Chin
Ann Munene
Elena Coulls
Lynne McPherson
Stella Conroy
Sue Dockett
Anita Morris
Emma Esdaile
Vicki Christopher
Lisa Stafford
Georgia Middleton
Brittany Johnson
Karen Murcia
Chile
Irene Amalia Salvo Agoglia
Camilo Morales Retamal
Iskra Pavez Soto
Colombia
María Claudia Duque-Páramo
Luz Teresila Barona Villamizar
Ornella Barros
Nataly Restrepo restrepo
Cyprus
Spyros Spyrou
Eda Yazgin
Deutschland/ Germany
Franziska Fay
Auxilia Silva Dos Santos
Thorsten Trede
Greece
Sofia Tsioli
Eleni Mousena
Netherlands
Özlemnur Ataol
Karin Arts
Kitty Jurrius
Nigeria
Jamiu Temitope Sulaimon
Ewajesu Opeyemi Okewumi
Norway
Tatek Abebe
Tanu Biswas
Marit Ursin
Changefactory Knowledge Centre
United Kingdom
Chloe Barber
Claudia Bernard
Andres Almario
Laura Benton
Grace Spencer
Helen Stalford
Andrew Nason Williams
Bec Buss
Stephen Thompson
Elisabeth Barratt Hacking
Tina Segota
Rio Jones
Anita Franklin
Nigel Patrick Thomas
Lynne Gilmour
Aidan Burns
Alice Little
Karen Boardman
Alice König
The Visualising War and Peace Project
Donna Thomas
Julia Clifford
Marlies Kustatscher
Lorraine Radford
Emily Barker
Gillian O’Dempsey
Louca-Mai Brady
Katherine Cartmell
Sarah Crafter
Yuwei Xu (and China)
Helen Lomax
Margaret Hills de Zarate
Deirdre Leyden
Lisa Bell
Julia Hayes
Eirini Gkouskou
Rachel Lambie
Ashley Woodfall
Tara Paxman
Vanessa Bennett
Austria/ Österreich
Christian Andersen
Argentina
Sebastián Javier Lipina
Canada
Monica Ruiz-Casares
Sara Austin
Rachel Berman
Janelle Brady
Christine Gervais
Tara M. Collins
Franco Carnevale
Daniella Bendo
Donna Koller
Proteknôn Foundation for Innovation and Learning
Laurel Donison
Azam Dashti Khavidaki
Lisa Wolff
Aurelia Di Santo
Vanessa Zufelt
Christa Leeder
j wallace skelton
Danielle Dionne
Kristen Cheney
Malta
Josephine Deguara
Mexico
Karina Patricia Franco Rodríguez
Yolanda Corona
Norma Del Rio
Pakistan
Azza Warraitch
Narooz Akhtar
Perú
Carlos Javier Rodriguez Cuellar
Nicolle Valverde Ronceros
Portugal
Ana Isabel Lemos do Carmo Pereira
Manuel Jacinto SarmentoAMF
Marlene Barra
Ana Cristina Dias Pinheiro
Ana Costa
Romania
Maria-Carmen Pantea
Rwanda
Proteknôn Foundation (and USA)
Scotland
Kate Wall
Stacey Marko
Spain/ España
Aida Urrea-Monclus
Noemi Pereda
Begonya Nafria
Marta Martínez Muñoz
Virginia Murillo (and Costa Rica)
Maria Josep Corominas
Laia Pineda Rüegg
Institut Infància i Adolescència de Barcelona
Patricia Núñez Gòmez
Araceli Lázaro Aparicio
Iván Rodríguez-Pascual
Myriam Fernández Nevado
Marta Muñoz Soriano
Justina de Pablo
Maribel Illescas Taboada
Lourdes Gaitán
Javier Guzmán Sánchez
Ana Maria Novella Cámara
South Africa
Tamlynn Jefferis
Lucie Cluver (and UK)
Joan van Niekerk
Alecia Samuels
Lucy Jamieson
Deevia Bhana
Norma Ruth Arlene Romm
Sverige/ Sweden
Fatemeh Yazdani
Linnea Bodén
Hussain Karim
Tanzania
Kate McAlpine
Zidane Abdallah
Raphael Denis
Türkiye
Aslıhan Öztezel
Seda Basok
Mehmet Toran
Ayşe Yılmaz