Research ethics at KTH
The Research Support Office can provide help related to research ethics. Contact the Research Ethics Advisor about, for example, support related to ethics reviews in connection with research applications, information sessions, dialogue about research ethics-related problems in planned or ongoing research, and dialogue about guidelines on ethics and good research practice. The Life Science Platform offers additional support on applications to ethics review for clinical investigations, medical research on people, biobanks, and animal experimentation.
What is research ethics?
Research ethics are essentially based on human rights and serve as one of many benchmarks for the researcher’s professional role. Different research areas have different challenges from research ethics but often included are issues on risks of harm or violation of people or animals. Informed consent and data management are usually essential tools for handling research-ethical problems. Concerning animals, their suffering or use of them should instead be minimised or completely replaced.
Laws and regulations
In recent decades, legal aspects, such as requirements for specific ethics permits, have played an important role in sharpening research ethics requirements. Each researcher is responsible for ensuring that her or his research has the necessary ethics permits. KTH is responsible for preventive measures, advice, and support related to research ethics. However, the legislation primarily aims to prevent the most serious violations and focuses on a risk analysis before the project.
Third parties may use some research results in harmful or oppressive ways. Research at KTH is often technical, with broad application possibilities. That is why it is particularly relevant that research is applied in ways that are not oppressive, harmful, or offensive. More on the regulation of dual-use technology can be found on KTH’s website for export control.
In addition to legal requirements, research communities continue to have a great responsibility to fill in the concept of research ethics with content in a way in which scientific and legal requirements, as well as ethical discernment, are integrated into the same practice.
When is an ethics review needed?
Use KTH's checklist to assess if your research legally requires an ethics review. If you are still unsure, please contact the advisors below for support.
KTH's checklist for ethics review (pdf 152 kB)
Contact
For questions about research ethics, contact the advisor at the Research Support Office via researchethics@kth.se.
Do you have questions regarding ethics review? Read about KTH's ethics review application support for research activities involving humans and animals or contact the Life Science Platform's advisor.
Ethics review application support
Ethics advisor, support for clinical trials
Please consult the navigation menu for further information on research ethics at KTH.
National information on research ethics can be found on the website CODEX which gathers rules and regulations for research in this area. CODEX is operated by The Centre for research ethics and bioethics at Uppsala University.