Introduction

Advances in Disability Research Ethics builds on the reflections included in the Handbook of Research Ethics and Scientific Integrity edited by Ron Iphofen, which was published in 2020. The Handbook included a specific chapter on disability research ethics by Anne Good (2020). Good’s chapter emphasised the crucial importance of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) for the development of disability research ethics across the globe.

Two broad-ranging implications of the UNCRPD for the field of disability research ethics were identified. First, Good pointed out that the Convention required a reliable and comprehensive global knowledge base, to act as a bedrock for designing and implementing the Convention’s ambitious change programme. This means that ethical practice in research and data collection are crucial to the success of the new Convention. Second, Good argued that the UNCRPD research and data processes had launched the largest and most comprehensive global disability research programme ever undertaken. The UNCRPD praxis in research ethics was therefore destined to have a major impact on all future disability research ethics. These conclusions provided the starting point for this new volume.