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The internet offers an opportunity for researchers to engage participants in research in a cost-effective and timely manner. Yet the use of the internet as a research tool (internet research) comes with a range of ethical concerns, and the rapidly changing online environment poses challenges for both researchers and ethics committees. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the key ethical issues of using the internet to recruit, retain and trace participants in public health research, from the perspectives of researchers and human research ethics committee (HREC) members.

This study employed a qualitative design using semi-structured interviews with eight public health researchers and seven HREC members in Australia to explore the key ethical issues of using the internet to engage research participants.

The study identified commonalities between researchers and HREC members regarding the utility and ethical complexity of using the internet to recruit, retain and trace research participants. The need for guidance and support regarding internet research, for both groups, was highlighted, as well as the need for flexibility and responsiveness in formal ethical processes.

This research contributes to the understanding of how the internet is used to engage participants in public health research and the ethical context in which that occurs. Supporting the ethical conduct of internet research will benefit those involved in research, including researchers, HRECs, organisations and research participants.

This study aims to explore the complex relationship between post-earthquake reconstruction processes and gentrification in neighbourhoods of intermediate cities, calling on the critical role of recovery strategies in altering neighbourhoods physical and social urban structure identities.

The paper uses a case study; the reconstruction process of the neighbourhoods post-2010 earthquake in Talca, Chile, and analyses in a six-year timeline its socio-spatial changes. The latter based on mixed methods, primary data from strategic interviews with key stakeholders, cadastres of land value and real estate housing projects and neighbourhood polls, and secondary data from official documents such as plans and policies.

The findings suggest that patterns of incipient gentrification are an outcome of the reconstruction strategies. Acknowledging the intricate interplay amongst urban neoliberal conditions, historical heritage and identities and post-disaster recovery, inadequate housing subsidies and normative plans are causing the displacement of hundreds of historical residents and resistance, arrival of newcomers with higher debt capacity in new housing typologies and increasing land value. Process related to neoliberal politics of state led to new-build gentrification.

Gentrification and reconstruction are both processes that modify urban structures, society and perceptions, and yet their socio spatial effects have never been studied in a cumulative and integrated manner, even more, in intermediate cities. The value is to rethink the critical role of recovery strategies in halting and containing gentrification in fast transforming secondary cities.