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Research ethics

Good scientific practice entails, among other things, that researchers and scientific experts:

  • follow modes of action endorsed by the research community, that is, integrity, meticulousness and accuracy in conducting research, in recording and presenting results, and in judging research and its results,
  • apply ethically sustainable data-collection, research and evaluation methods conforming to scientific criteria, and practise openness intrinsic to scientific knowledge in publishing their findings, and
  • take due account of other researchers' work and achievements.

Further, it is in keeping of good scientific practice that:

  • Research is planned, conducted and reported in detail and according to the standards set for scientific knowledge.
  • Questions relating to the status, rights, co-authorship, liabilities and obligations of the members of a research team are determined before the research project starts of a researcher is recruited to the team.
  • The source of financing and other associations relevant to the conduct of research are made known.
  • Good administrative practice and good personnel and financial management practices are observed.

UEF Committee on Research Ethics

The duties of the Research Ethics Committee include:

  • the ethical review of research designs involving human participants when review is not otherwise regulated by the Medical Research Act, and issuing statements related to these reviews,
  • providing advice within the university on questions related to research ethics,
  • serving as an expert body in potential research‑ethical problem situations that may arise within the university,
  • maintaining and fostering discussion related to research ethics within the university,
  • monitoring and participating in the preparation of national research‑ethics guidelines.

Composition of the Committee

During the term of the Research Ethics Committee from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2029, the Chair will be University Lecturer Mia Kilpeläinen from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies, and the Vice-Chair will be Professor Pasi Karjalainen from the Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology.

Members:

  • Associate Professor Outi Hakola, Professor Timo Kallinen, University Lecturer Alexandre Nikolaev, and Project Coordinator Ella Suortti, Philosophical Faculty
  • Professor Teppo Hujala, Professor Pasi Karjalainen and Professor Markku Tukiainen, Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology
  • University Teacher Saara Happo, Professor Tarja Kvist, and Research Director Toni Rikkonen, Faculty of Health Sciences
  • University Lecturer Mia Kilpeläinen and University Teacher Sari Tillonen, Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies

The permanent experts of the Committee are:
Data Protection Officer Helena Eronen from University Services and Information Specialist Anne Karhapää from the Library (deputy: Information Specialist Manna Satama from the Library).

The Secretary of the Committee is Research Funding Specialist Mika Saikkonen from University Services.

Meeting schedules

The UEF Committee on Research Ethics has meetings once a month, excluding July.

Meetings of the UEF Committee on Research Ethics (in parentheses the deadline date at 3 p.m. for requests for statements and their appendices):

Spring semester 2026:

  • Thu 15.1.2026 (requests for statement by Tue 30.12.2025)
  • Thu 12.2.2026 (requests for statement by Tue 27.1.2026)
  • Fri 13.3.2026 (requests for statement by Tue 24.2.2026)
  • Fri 10.4.2026 (requests for statement by Tue 24.3.2026)
  • Wed 13.5.2026 (requests for statement by Mon 27.4.2026)
  • Thu 11.6.2026 (requests for statement by Tue 26.5.2026)

Instructions and forms

Committees on research ethics carry out reviews of the ethical aspects of research projects and studies and issue statements on their ethical acceptability. An ethical review by an ethics committee does not transfer the responsibility for the study and its ethicality from the researcher to the committee.

Research projects and studies in medicine and health sciences

When medical research involving intervention in the integrity of a person, human embryo or human foetus for the purpose of increasing knowledge of health, the causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases or the nature of diseases in general, the project or study is required by law to undergo an ethical review. Research projects and studies in medicine and health sciences which fall within the scope of Medical Research Act and are carried out at the University of Eastern Finland are reviewed by the Regional Medical Research Ethics Committee of Eastern Finland Collaborative Area. The review of the committee adheres to the Medical Research Act (1999/488).

Research projects and studies in the humanities and social and behavioural sciences

The Committee on Research Ethics of the University of Eastern Finland carries out reviews and issues statements on research projects and studies in the humanities and social and behavioural sciences. The Committee adheres to the guidelines of the National Advisory Board on Research Ethics relating to research in the humanities and social and behavioural sciences. The applicant should familiarise herself/himself with with the guidelines.

The task of the University Research Ethics Committee is to conduct the ethical review of research designs involving human participants that are not otherwise regulated by the Medical Research Act. 

Ethical review must be completed before starting data collection and recruiting participants. A statement cannot be granted retroactively.

In its review of research in the human sciences, the University Research Ethics Committee follows the ethical principles and guidelines for ethical review issued by the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity (TENK).

The researcher must request an ethical review statement from a human sciences ethics committee, if their research contains any of the following:

  • participation in the research deviates from the principle of informed consent,
  • the research involves intervening in the physical integrity of research participants,
  • the focus of the research is on minors under the age of 15, without separate consent from a parent or carer or without informing a parent or carer in a way that would enable them to prevent the child’s participation in the research,
  • research that exposes participants to exceptionally strong stimuli,
  • research that involves a risk of causing mental harm that exceeds the limits of normal daily life to the research participants or their family members or others closest to them or,
  • conducting the research could involve a threat to the safety of participants or researchers or their family members or others closest to them.

An ethical review statement may also be requested when a research funder, cooperation partner, target organization or scientific journal necessarily so requests. 

If your research does not fall under the study designs that require prior ethical review according to TENK’s guidelines, but you need an ethical statement for a scientific journal, funder, target organization or cooperation partner, we ask that you first check whether they would accept, instead of a statement, an explanation of the Finnish procedure for ethical review in human sciences. Ask the Secretary of the Committee for advice; the explanation is available from them upon request.

The review of the ethics committee is not required for research based purely on public and published data, registry and documentary data and archive data. Research of registry data and documentary data must, however,  be evaluated,  if the research participants’ personal data is collected and combined from several different sources (several registers) so that privacy of research participants is endangered.

Ethical review is intended for research conducted after the completion of a basic university degree. The Ethics Committee does not review individual master’s theses, because at the master’s level students should not be conducting research designs that would require prior ethical review. Master’s theses and smaller theses can only be reviewed if they are part of a broader research project that applies for ethical review. Supervisors of theses are responsible for ensuring that their students familiarize themselves with ethical principles.

The doctoral researcher applies for the ethical review together with their supervisor.

Ethical review particularly assesses:

  • the potential risks and harm to research participants, their families and potentially also the researcher themselves as well as their likelihood in relation to the plans drawn up to avoid them described in the request for a statement,
  • sufficiently clear information to research participants on the content of the research, their participation in the research and the processing of their personal data,
  • the data management plan, also containing a description of the processing of personal data throughout the lifespan of the research,
  • the appropriateness of the research participant’s written or electronic consent to participate,
  • the way in which the consent of participants is requested and documented if written or electronic consent is not used,
  • the significance of the new information that the research aims to obtain in relation to potential harms and risks.

Even if an ethical review is not needed, a good research plan includes a thorough research ethics consideration anyway. In addition, informing the research participants, obtaining consent, data management and personal data processing must be handled appropriately. Researchers can use the information and consent templates on the website in their research, even if no ethical review is carried out.
 

The applicants must, before requesting for ethical review, read and commit to guidelines The ethical principles of research with human participants and ethical review in the human sciences in Finland . These guidelines will be in force since 1 October 2019. UEF Committee of Research Ethics follows these guidelines in the evaluation.

Video recording: Ethical review in human sciences, and how to request for an ethics statement (25 min)

Instructions for Preparing a Request for a Statement (PDF, 12.12.2025). Please read the instructions and prepare the request for a statement accordingly. Use the latest versions of the template forms.

Please also use, if necessary:

Other instructions

The request for a statement with the required appendices should be sent to the address: tuetto (at) uef.fi, according to the deadlines set by the Committee
The request for statement -form and its appendices should be sent as separate files, preferably in pdf-format. Please number the appendices and give them clear titles.

Please allow sufficient time for processing your application before you start your data collection. The committee may ask for further clarifications or corrections before writing the ethics statement. If the application includes significant ethical shortcomings, the Committee returns the application to the researcher for corrections. The applicant then needs to send a revised application for a re-evaluation in the next meeting of the Committee.

The UEF Committee on Research Ethics discusses all requests for statement and the related documents confidentially.

Further information is available from the Secretary of the Committee (Mika Saikkonen, [email protected], tel. 050 346 8118) and the Committee members.

Changes to a research plan which has received a positive ethical review statement from the ethics committee

An amendment request for a new statement needs to be presented to the ethics committee when:

  • the research plan is changed in such a way that the change may weaken the rights of the research participants or increase the risks, damages or harm caused by the research.
  • if a research design, sub-study or data is added to the research plan, which was not mentioned in the original plan and which has an impact on the ethics of the research.

Notification of change must be made to the ethics committee when:

  • changes occur in the members of the research team
  • there will be changes to the schedules (e.g. regarding data collection)
  • some individual section of the study is not carried out
  • the study is interrupted so that the participants may feel uncertainty about their status or the use of research data
  • there will be other essential changes to the implementation of the study

If you are planning to send an amendment, please contact first the secretary of the Committee Mika Saikkonen for instructions.