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Research Ethics and Intellectual Property Rights

Topic 5.2 of Research Ethics and Intellectual Property Rights

Informed Consent, Ethical Review, and Indian Law

The four elements of informed consent, when an Institutional Ethics Committee review is required, how the DPDP Act 2023 adds data-minimisation and purpose-limitation requirements to any student project that touches personal data, and the CERT-In six-hour mandatory incident reporting obligation.

~22 min total·4 quadrants of structured content

By the end of this topic, you will

List the four elements of informed consent and explain how each applies when the study involves deception
Identify which categories of student project require ethics review before data collection begins
State the core obligations the DPDP Act 2023 places on a researcher who collects email addresses or device identifiers
Explain the CERT-In six-hour reporting rule and identify the scenario in which a student project triggers a legal reporting obligation

Quadrant 1 · e-Tutorial

Video lectures and walkthroughs

Video content coming soon.

Quadrant 2 · e-Content

Articles and case studies

research-methodology

Informed Consent, Ethical Review, and Indian Law

Informed consent is not a signature on a form. It is a specific sequence of obligations — disclosure, comprehension, voluntariness, competence — and it applies even when the study involves deception, as long as a debrief follows. In India, two additional legal frameworks now sit alongside the ethics committee: the DPDP Act 2023 and the CERT-In six-hour mandatory incident reporting rule.

9 min read

Quadrant 3 · Web Resources

Downloadable material and curated external links

Web resources coming soon.

Quadrant 4 · Self-Assessment

Test your knowledge — earn a certificate on first pass

Assessment coming soon.