Applied Neuroscience Association (ANA CODE) of Ethics and Professional Conduct

Individuals and organisations joining ANA commit to following and promoting best practice and ethical standards by adhering to the following code of ethics and professional conduct (ANA CODE):

ANA CODE

Leading by example on adhering ethical principles of your profession;

Accurately stating professional credentials, skills, and knowledge and responsibly practicing only within the scope of your professional competencies;

Endeavouring to stay up to date with the latest emerging research, meeting regularly within your profession, with a goal to actively reduce / stop the proliferation of neuromyths or mis/disinformation;

Accurately advertising and presenting services, including having a clear policy for client data protection and storage, and an accessible complaints resolution policy;

Maintaining professional dignity, respect and integrity when discussing the opinions and findings of others in and outside of the ANA community;

Taking all reasonable precautions to protect recipients of ANA services from harm, always demonstrating a concern for the rights, safety, health, welfare, and dignity, providing full disclosure of any known potential risks, benefits and options where applicable for services offered;

Providing services to those in need with intent to help improve or alleviate without discrimination on the basis of race, creed, age, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, social or religious affiliation;

Except as otherwise required by law, protect the confidential nature of information gained in professional relationships and avoiding any known mis/disinformation;

Supporting intellectual freedom through open discussion of theories and factual findings of others in and outside the ANA community;

Assisting recipients of services to maintain appropriate autonomy and self-regulation and self-responsibility, including safety and responsibility for their own actions and health;

Zero tolerance for bribery or corruption, regardless of where you are located or where you are operating, in so doing, accept a commitment to compliance with the relevant bylaws and regulations in your locality;

Maintaining responsibility for your own health and wellbeing;

Maintaining good moral character and abiding by the ANA CODE and ANA TERMS OF USE.

Responsibility

All Members of ANA upon joining the global ANA Community, Volunteers, and Affiliate Users of the service, will have read and understood the ANA CODE and ANA TERMS OF USE. As such committing to abide by the CODE in the spirit of all applicable principles and any related policies and standards. All Members and Users of ANA services have the right to actively participate in services and to refuse or discontinue participation.

ANA Members carrying out ANA business through volunteering or other means such as authoring content or speaking at events, will lead by example in upholding the ANA CODE and any relevant local (and international) legal requirements. This includes any dealings with a third party or customer acting alongside ANA, adhering to any copyright and trademark compliance or any other intellectual property preserves, and under no circumstances acquiring or misusing trade secrets or other confidential or proprietary information of any third party.

Peer Review

All content posted on the ANA Website or issued via any ANA Channel will have been peer reviewed against the ANA CODE and ANA TERMS OF USE. It is the responsibility of member authors to understand and meet the ANA CODE and ANA TERMS OF USE criteria in producing content. ANA’s establishing Peer Reviewing Panel will be led by one of the ANA Academic Advisory Council members and Reviewing Panel members recruited with oversight from the Advisory Council as well as the ANA Ethics Committee.

Diversity and Respect

The ANA Community and any ANA community-related events or affiliations is committed to providing a friendly, welcoming and safe space and platform that fosters open dialogue, fair treatment, and the expression of ideas, free of harassment and discrimination. Accordingly, ANA Members and Users are asked to respect every individual and differences, such as culture, education, age, race, ethnicity, gender, language, sexual orientation, health status, and industry role (this is not an exhaustive list). Fundamental is maintaining a positive regard and experience for everyone, reinforced by ethical and legal behaviours.

Lawful Practice

ANA uses only responsible and lawful means to access, collect, use, share, transfer or store the personal information of others, and use personal information solely for legitimate interest for ANA business. ANA commits to maintaining appropriate records, seeking consent for joining members, gathering data in the member register and maintaining information privacy and confidentiality as appropriate.

ANA lawful practice looks to fairness, inclusivity, accuracy, transparency, confidentiality, and fit for purpose, aligning legitimate interest with the collecting and processing of personal data, and legal ethics with financial reporting conduct as a non-profit organisation. Also, in relation to any conflict of interest that might impair, or appear to impair, the interests of ANA.

In addition, ANA does not tolerate bribery or corruption, regardless of where we are located or where we are operating online or in person. In so doing, ANA has a commitment to compliance with the relevant bylaws and regulations. In the United Kingdom; these include the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 and Companies Act 2006

Quality and Safety

ANA commitment to demonstrative ethical responsibility in conduct and practice is essential to our success. ANA recognises a shared responsibility to create and maintain a safe environment for the benefit of all. Strengthened by the right to speak-up via ethics@appliedneuroscienceassociation.com. Use this for promptly raising any ethics or compliance queries, or concerns in good faith, and providing full cooperation.

All Members and Users are expected to report suspected lack of safety promptly and never retaliate against anyone who raises in good faith any concern. ANA takes ethics investigations seriously and takes all reasonable efforts to keep information related to an investigation confidential. Any investigations and any resulting corrective action will be conducted in compliance with applicable local laws and ANA policies and standards.

Safety may refer to violation of another’s human rights, which can include harassment through use of language, gestures, expressions, actions (threats or demands), inappropriate materials and/or approaches directed or used in a way that clearly intimidates or is hostile, bullying, offensive, including unwanted advances or comments. All ANA Members and Users will always look to apply ethically responsible conduct in professional relationships. Gifts and hospitality must be given and received in a responsible manner and may never be used to influence.

Competencies in ongoing quality training, education, knowledge, skills and experience is respected at all levels, with honesty and accuracy expected in representing professional qualifications and affiliations upon joining ANA. Members and Users responsibilities and obligations are self-regulating, applying good judgement in the use of rigorous science-informed sources in research, and in following ethically responsible conduct, including safety and responsibility for your own actions and health. See ANA Peer Review responsibilities for any content produced on behalf of ANA.

As an author for ANA you will: (1) guarantee the originality of any papers or presentations, (2) give credit to others for their works avoiding plagiarism, (3) assume accuracy and fairness of presented information as a perspective otherwise clearly referenced, (4) where required use data of others with specific written permission, and (5) disclose any proprietary interests related to professional papers or presentations.

Sustainable Approach

ANA aims to incorporate sustainability into every aspect of what we do. We are committed to driving human progress by putting our shared expertise and technology to work where it can do the most-good for people and the planet. ANA Members and Users will help us to uphold this commitment by incorporating sustainable thinking such as creating ecofriendly ‘online’ initiatives. Shared expertise calls on innovating sustainable solutions, strategies and tools that benefit our communities and the planet.

Financial sustainability and integrity is reflected in honest and accurate financial and operational performance as a non-profit. Integrity of our financial statements and other regulatory filings is critical to the successful operation of ANA, and to maintaining the confidence and trust of our all stakeholders. ANA does not misrepresent financial or operational performance or otherwise knowingly compromise the integrity of the company’s financial statements, by following relevant processes and controls as dictated by HMRC and Companies House, designed to ensure the accuracy of ANA’s financial assessment and reporting.

Version: June 2022