Besides the huge challenges of setting up and carrying out a research project in the field of security, organised crime and violence, research ethics are very important and often a prerequisite for obtaining the academic “green light” from universities and their respective Research Ethics Committees. Furthermore, sound research ethics are a key condition to get research funding.

For example, in some research our participants are (or have been) committing serious crimes. In such cases, should the research report any information on criminal activities and thus reveal it to the authorities? Or is the importance of the academic contribution “above the law”? And how about the personal safety of the researcher when conducting this type of research?

This section addresses these issues related to ethics. Please be as concise as possible and offer specific questions, discussion points, experiences, suggestions, and references to academic work or common solutions.

• Working to Research: Rambling on the Ethics of Gaining Access, by Kari Mariska Pries, February 2012

• Gaining and maintaining access when researching security, organised crime and violence, by Verena Brähler, January 2012

• How to convince Research Ethics Committees of the importance of in situ interviews? by Verena Brähler, October 2011