Consent Form

1 Introduction

You are invited to take part in this research project, which is called Housing and settlement design and governance strategies for climate change adaptation and mitigation of informal territories. You have been invited to submit an entry to the Online Flood Photostory repository. The repository is an online platform that we are disseminating through our network.

This Participant Information And Consent Form tells you about the research project. It explains the processes involved with taking part. Knowing what is involved will help you decide if you want to take part in the research. Please read this information carefully. Ask questions about anything that you don’t understand or want to know more about. Before deciding whether to take part, you might want to talk about it with a relative or friend.

Participation in this research is voluntary. If you don’t wish to take part, you don’t have to.
If you decide you want to take part in the research project, you will be asked to sign the consent section. By signing it you are telling us that you:

• Understand what you have read.

• Consent to take part in the research project.

You can download a copy of this Participant Information and Consent Form to keep. 

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2 What is the purpose of this research?

The research project deals with strategies for adaptation and mitigation to flood, to define an assessment and design methodology supporting decision-makers in identifying effective strategies across scales and governance approaches. Previous research supports the need to go beyond sectoral policies to understand the combined contribution of different measures on the built environment (open spaces, buildings, users), engaging multiple stakeholders and diffused in a territory to distribute negative externalities. Therefore, we aim to test alternatives to the mainstreamed spatially concentrated large-scale solutions, for example, dikes, levees storage basins -which are primarily engineered-based and have known technical and socio-economic limitations, such as high costs, biodiversity disruption, inequality- by turning towards multiscale measures distributed on public and private property. The relevance of this research is in considering not only decision-making but also implementation and governance processes.

This research is part of a cotutelle PhD between different Universities, namely RMIT and Politecnico di Milano. We also have an external partner as collaborator, the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Climate Change (CMCC), based in Italy. It is an international and collaborative project. The research is conducted both in Italy and Australia. This research is part of the Doctoral Research of Francesca Vanelli. This research is conducted under the REDI Program, a project that has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 101034328.

3 What does participation in this research involve?
You are invited to contribute to the research by uploading a text, image, video, short text. The aim of the repository is to explore and capture different approaches across countries against flood. Flood is a global issue but takes different forms and adaptation to flood is particularly context-dependent. There might be niches of innovation across countries, bottom-up or local top-down solutions that might suggest innovative approaches.
 

You must be older than 18 years old. We look for participants in any country across the world, without any ethnicity, education, age, or other limitations. If you meet the age requirement, please confirm that in the consent form. Feel free to share this material with your friends, colleagues, and family members!

You are asked to carefully read this information sheet and complete the consent form prior to the involvement in the research. There are no costs associated with participating in this research project, nor will you be paid.

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4 Do I have to take part in this research project?
Participation in any research project is voluntary. If you do not wish to take part, you do not have to. If you decide to take part and later change your mind, you are free to withdraw from the project at any stage. If you do decide to take part, you will be given this Participant Information and Consent Form to sign and you will be given a copy to keep.
Your decision whether to take part or not to take part, or to take part and then withdraw, will not affect your relationship with the researchers or with the Universities involved.

Submitting your entry is an indication of your consent to participate in the study. When you start the submission, you will be asked to choose an alphanumeric code; in that way your answer is anonymous but identifiable. You can withdraw your responses any time if you change your mind about having them included in the study before we have analysed and published the results, by getting in touch with the team and providing your code. If you want, you can also add your name and surname. You can also decide to undertake a in-depth interview with the research team.

5 What are the possible benefits of taking part?
We cannot guarantee or promise that you will receive any benefits from this research; however, you may appreciate contributing to knowledge. Possible benefits may include contributing to hedge-cutting research part of European MSCA network; being exposed to a network of European researchers in Italy and Australia; explore possibilities of collaboration for publication and dissemination activities; contribute to innovative solutions than be get to a wider audience.

6 What are the risks and disadvantages of taking part?
You may be exposed to some risks:
       1. Sensitivity to the topic:
You may feel that some of the questions we ask are stressful or upsetting. If you do not wish to answer a question, you may skip it and go to the next question, or you may stop immediately. If you become upset or distressed because of your participation in the research project, members of the research team will be able to discuss appropriate support for you. In case of distress, please refer to the mental health services and contacts offered by your country.

     2. Online site
This project will use an external platform to create, collect and analyse data collected in a survey format. The site we are using is Qualtrics. If you agree to participate in this survey, the responses you provide will be stored on their host server. No personal information will be collected in the platform so none will be stored as data. Once we have completed our data collection and analysis, we will import the data to the RMIT/Politecnico di Milano server where it will be stored securely for five years. The data on the host server will then be deleted and expunged.

     3. Inconvenience for giving up time;
The online platform will be accessible for until the completion of the project to give you time to fill it. If you don’t feel comfortable with the format, please get in touch with the team, and we will try to arrange a guided process.

7 What if I withdraw from this research project?
If you do consent to participate, you may withdraw at any time. There are no implications for you. You have the right to have any unprocessed data withdrawn and destroyed, providing it can be reliably identified. In case you withdraw, please check if an alternative respondent within your network can be available, via snowballing sample identification.

8 What happens when the research project ends?
Publication results of the research will be available on the researcher’s media pages. The final dissertation will be available at RMIT and Politecnico di Milano repository pages upon completion. The data will be maintained for 5 years. Original data is saved in the university server, accessible only by the research team and password protected.

9 What will happen to information about me?
By signing the consent form, you consent to the research team collecting and using information from you for the research project. Any information obtained in connection with this research project that can identify you will remain confidential. It is anticipated that the results of this research project will be published and presented in a variety of forums. In any publication and/or presentation, information will be provided in such a way that you cannot be identified, except with your express permission. You can decide what degree of anonymity you want by selecting an option in the consent form below. If you wish to stay anonymous the entry will be coded randomly, by a code you can self-select. The data is saved in password-protected folders in the University servers. Access is granted only by the research team.

In accordance with relevant Australian and/or Victorian privacy and other relevant laws, you have the right to request access to the information about you that is collected and stored by the research team. You also have the right to request that any information with which you disagree be corrected. Please inform the research team member named at the end of this document if you would like to access your information.

Any information that you provide can be disclosed only if (1) it is protect you or others from harm, (2) if specifically allowed by law, (3) you provide the researchers with written permission. Any information obtained for the purpose of this research project and its related dissemination and publication outputs that can identify you will be treated as confidential and securely stored.

 

Since the project is under an European Project we also respect the European Guidelines: the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers and the European Charter for Researchers. You can find the Privacy policies here. 

10 Who has reviewed the research project?
All research in Australia involving humans is reviewed by an independent group of people called a Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) by RMIT. This research project has been approved by the RMIT University HREC. This project will be carried out according to the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2007). This statement has been developed to protect the interests of people who agree to participate in human research studies. The research is also reviewed by Politecnico di Milano  Ethics Committee.

11 Further information and who to contact
If you want any further information concerning this project, you can contact the researcher, or the Senior Supervisor as indicated below.
Research contact person
Francesca Vanelli, PhD Researcher.

Telephone: +39 3496856030
Email: s3964782@student.rmit.edu.au OR francesca.vanelli@polimi.it

Senior Supervisors: Paul Minifie (RMIT - paul.minifie@rmit.edu.au), Monica Lavangna (POLIMI - monica.lavagna@polimi.it)
 

12 Complaints
Should you have any concerns or questions about this research project, which you do not wish to discuss with the researchers listed in this document, then you may contact:

RMIT University - HREC Secretary Anita Arndt

Telephone: 03 9925 2138
Email: humanethics@rmit.edu.au
Mailing address: Manager, Research Ethics, Integrity and Governance, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476, MELBOURNE VIC 3001