Busara is proud to announce that the National Commission for Science, Technology, and Innovation (NACOSTI) has approved the accreditation of the Busara Institutional Scientific and Ethical Review Committee (BSERC), to conduct ethical and scientific review of research protocols in the humanities and social science.

BSERC is Busara’s response to the growing need for robust ethical review processes that fit the context of the global majority. BSERC will also be staffed with people specialized in the behavioral sciences, enabling it to efficiently and effectively analyze the complex risks that can occur in the behavioral sciences without subjecting all submissions to burdensome administrative overhead when risks are genuinely small. BSERC will therefore strengthen ethics infrastructure and the research landscape in Kenya by providing contextually sensitive reviews that are both efficient and credible.

“BSERC signals that ethical frameworks can be local, practical, and closely tied to realities of the global majority without creating burdensome costs and delays,” said Dr. Robert Nyaga, Chairman of the BSERC and Technical Director of qualitative research at Busara. 

“The BSERC accreditation will enable the Centre to evaluate scientific and ethical protocols for research in the humanities and social sciences. This accreditation underscores Busara’s commitment to furthering NACOSTI’s mission to ensure high-quality, ethical research that safeguards participants and fosters national development,” said Christine Apakoreng, Deputy Director of Registration and Accreditation, NACOSTI.