The iRRRd team has published a paper in the Child Development Perspectives Journal on ethical and culturally responsive biomarker research in the majority world

Do biomarkers have a place in human developmental research in the Majority World?

While commonly used in medicine, public health, and nutrition their application in developmental and educational science has remained contested.

In our new paper in Child Development Perspectives, we draw on both our own work and the field’s collective experience to examine the ethical considerations and practical challenges of conducting biomarker research responsibly in low-resource and conflict-affected settings in the Majority World.

We argue that, when implemented thoughtfully, biomarkers can meaningfully complement traditional developmental measures and deepen our understanding of how adversity becomes biologically embedded. The paper offers a roadmap for integrating biomarker data into developmental science while remaining grounded in ethics and cultural context.

💖 Thanks Ashraf Haque, Caroline Hiott, Elisa Ugarte Pfingsthorn, Kazi Istiaque Sanin, Fahmida Tofail and Paul Hastings for your ongoing support and generously sharing your experience and expertise, which has made biomarker research possible in our study with Rohingya refugees and host communities in CXB Bangladesh (iRRRd).

Read the paper here: https://doi.org/10.1093/cdpers/aadag003