Gaia Barazzetti
EPFL AVP-R REO
BI A2 407 (Bâtiment BI)
Station 7
CH-1015 Lausanne
Web site: Web site: https://www.epfl.ch/research/services/units/research-office/
Fields of expertise
I am a moral philosopher with expertise in the fields of ethics and science and technology policy. I have extensive experience in research ethics compliance and a broad knowledge of the ethical and regulatory frameworks applicable to various areas of research, including research involving human subjects, animal research, research integrity, data management, data protection, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, conflicts of interests, and dual-use research.
My research works address issues of public interest in the areas of biomedical research, healthcare innovation, digitalization, sustainability and emerging technologies, with a strong commitment to stakeholder and public engagement, policy impact, and public outreach.
My teaching activities aim to improve student's abilities to assess and address ethical issues in research and to improve compliance with the ethical standards.
My research works address issues of public interest in the areas of biomedical research, healthcare innovation, digitalization, sustainability and emerging technologies, with a strong commitment to stakeholder and public engagement, policy impact, and public outreach.
My teaching activities aim to improve student's abilities to assess and address ethical issues in research and to improve compliance with the ethical standards.
Mission
As Research Ethics Compliance Officer my mission is to support EPFL research community in all ethics related issues of research projects.My responsibilities are threefold:
- Ensuring the proper implementation of ethics guidance at all steps of research, from the assessment of ethical issues, to ethics authorization applications, to research ethics policy development.
- Liasing with the internal Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) and fostering collaboration with external institutional partners (cantonal ethics commissions, funding bodies, etc.).
- Raising awareness of ethical standards in research and promoting an ethical culture of compliance at EPFL.
Biography
Following my PhD in philosophy and two-years postdoc in biomedical ethics, I have held the positions of Lecturer in the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Biology and Medicine, and Senior Researcher in The ColLaboratory of the University of Lausanne, where my work focused primarily on the ethics and policy of research and on public engagement with science.I have a particular interest in engineering ethics and have developed undergraduate and postgraduate training in this field at EPFL, in collaboration with the Social and Human Sciences (SHS) Programme of the College of Humanities, the School of Life Sciences and the Research Office.
Since 2008, I have served as a member in research ethics committees and as an ethics expert in working groups at the cantonal, national and international level. My role as an ethics advisor on these bodies has been to enable the discussion and management of practical ethical queries in research, to contribute to the interpretation and application of the relevant ethical and regulatory frameworks, and assist with the elaboration of policies, guidelines and procedures.
Publications
Selected publications
| Bogaert B., Crevier M.J., Roth C., Jox R., Barazzetti G. Journal of Community Genetics, 18 September 2024 (Open Access) |
Research participant perceptions of personal utility in disclosure of individual research results from genomic analysis |
| Barazzetti, G. Bioethica Forum 14(1) 2021: 94-99 |
When good science can turn out bad: Addressing dual-use issues in bioethics education |
| Barazzetti G., Bühler N., Audétat M., Kaufmann A. Science and Public Policy 2021 scab051 |
Making personalized medicine ethical: A critical examination of the new promises of ‘personalized health’ in Switzerland |
| Barazzetti G., Bugnon B., Von Plessen C., Bischoff T., Kaufmann A. Revue Médicale Suisse 17 2021: 230-233 |
Dossier électronique du patient: coffre-fort, poubelle à pdf, ou partenariat innovant entre professionnels et patients? |
| Selby K., Durand M.-A., Gouveia A., Bosisio F., Barazzetti G., Hostettler M., D’Acremont V., Kaufmann A., von Plessen C. JMIR 4(12) 2020: e20871 |
Citizen responses to government restrictions in Switzerland during the COVID-19 pandemic: cross-sectional |
| Bosisio F., Barazzetti G., Koutaissoff D., Spencer B. European Journal of Human Genetics 28(7) 2020: 915-924 |
Broad consent in practice: Lessons learned from a hospital-based biobank for prospective research on genomic and medical data |
| Barazzetti G., Hurst S., Mauron A. Stem Cells Translational Medicine 5(8) 2016: 1058-1066 |
Adapting preclinical benchmarks for first-in-human trials of hESC- based therapies |
Teaching & PhD
New tools & research strategies in personalized health
This course addresses the concept of personalized health, describing the underlying technologies, the ethical, legal and social challenges that the field faces today, and how they are being met.