Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Human Sciences

Research projects that collect data on human subjects increasingly require reviews by an ethics committee. This type of review is now required by many third-party funding agencies, scientific journals (for publication) as well as agencies (e.g., clinics, service settings) before research projects can begin. For over ten years, the Faculty of Human Sciences has had an ethics committee that reviews applications from researchers in the faculty. Despite changes in the research culture, it should be emphasized that the primary responsibility for the ethical conduct of a study continues to lie with the research supervisor and mentor. (cf. German Research Foundation 2019). The Ethics Committee FB01 reviews proposals of researchers at all levels (teaching staff, PhD students, Master and Bachelor students of the faculty), for which a review by an external body is required. In addition, research projects that collect sensitive human subjects data should consider obtaining a review from the Ethics Committee. Beyond data protection issues, ethical challenges arise in many studies that warrant  discussion. For questions concerning the need for an application, the chair of the Ethics Committee FB01 should be contacted. A retrospective review by the Ethics Committee FB01 is generally not possible.