Ethics committees of the faculties and institutes
Decentralised ethics committees are the first point of contact for ethical questions. Researchers can contact the ethics committee of their faculty if the funding body or a journal requires an ethics vote, if the ethics guidelines of the discipline require an ethics vote to be obtained or if they think that their research project involves ethical risks that they would like to minimise.
You can find your ethics committee here:
- Faculty of Humanities and Education
- Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
- Faculty of Language, Literature and Humanities
- Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
- Joint Ethics Committee Theologies
- Albrecht Daniel Thaer Institute
- Department of Biology
- Department of Psychology
Please contact the Faculty of Humanities and Faculty of Law directly via the faculty administrations.
Ethical guidelines and codes
Ethical guidelines provide a framework for research projects in order to minimise potential harm for participants in research projects, for researchers, but also for individual social groups or society as a whole. The specific requirements may differ depending on the discipline and research subject. The implementation of these ethical principles is also a prerequisite for the recognition and acceptance of scientific results. The following are general and specific guidelines.
| Specialisation | National | International |
|---|---|---|
| Ethnology, Cultural Studies | German Society for Social and Cultural Anthropology. (2008). Frankfurt Declaration" on Ethics in Anthropology | American Anthropological Association. (2012). Principles of Professional Responsibility: Statement of Ethics |
| Ethnology, Cultural Studies | German Society for Social and Cultural Anthropology. (2020). Principles and Procedures for the Ethical Assessment of Ethnological Research ["Ethics Guidelines"] | Iphofen, R. (2021, 5 July). Research Ethics in Ethnography/Anthropology, European Commission. |
| Educational Sciences | German Society for Educational Science. (2016). Code of Ethics of the German Educational Research Association (DGfE). | British Educational Research Association. (2018). Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research |
| Communication Sciences | German Society for Journalism and Communication Studies. (2017, 31 March). Code of Ethics of the DGPuK of 13 May 2015, last amended on 31 March 2017. | |
| Sociology and political science | German Association for Political Science. (2017, 15 May). Code of Ethics. Osnabrück. | American Sociological Association. (2018). Code of Ethics |
| Sociology and political science | German Society for Social Work. (2020). Research Ethics Principles and Scientific Standards for Social Work Research: Research Ethics Code of the DGSA. Adopted by the members in July 2020. | British Sociological Association. (2017). Statement of Ethical Practice |
| Sociology and political science | German Sociological Association. (2017, 10 June). Code of Ethics of the German Sociological Association (DGS) and the Professional Association of German Sociologists (BDS) | International Sociological Association. (2001). Code of Ethics |
| Sociology and Political Science | Institute for Labour Market and Occupational Research. (2021). Guidelines of the IAB: Code of Ethics valid since 1 February 2021. | |
| Sociology and political science | Association of University Professors of Business Administration e.V. (2014). Information on the ethical and professional orientation of members of the Association of University Professors of Business Administration e.V | |
| Sociology and political science | Association for Social Policy. (n.d.). Code of Ethics of the Verein für Socialpolitik. |
- European Commission: Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (2019). Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI: High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence set up by the European Commission in June 2018. Publications Office of the European Union,
- European Commission: Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture. (2022). Ethical Guidelines for Teachers on the Use of AI and Data for Teaching and Learning Purposes. Publications Office of the European Union.
- Centre for Responsible Digitalisation (ZEVEDI). (2022). On the research ethics review of AI research projects. Handout to support the work of ethics committees at universities. Version 1.0. Darmstadt. Technical University of Darmstadt.
Safety-relevant research
Researchers at Humboldt-Universit?t also reflect on whether their research has a safety relevance that has the potential to harm society as a whole or the environment. The ethical assessment is preceded by a legal review.
What is security-relevant research?
Dual use refers to research that can generate knowledge that can be misused by third parties to harm human dignity, life, health, freedom, property, the environment or peaceful coexistence(cf. DFG/Leopoldina). Recently, however, security-relevant research has also been given a broader definition (Wissenschaftsrat (WR) 2025): research that contributes to maintaining internal and external security and resilience or that can jeopardise these can be described as security-relevant research (WR, p. 6 & p.18)
The "Joint Committee on Security-Relevant Research" of the Leopoldina and DFG provides explanations on the area of security-relevant research in its FAQs.
Key questions
The Joint Committee of the DFG and Leopoldina on dealing with security-relevant research recommends that researchers ask themselves whether (cf. DFG/Leopoldina guiding questions)
- it is likely that the research is security-relevant,
- it is possible that co-operation partners may cause security-relevant risks in the course of the research,
- other legal regulations must be taken into account (e.g. export controls).
Further key questions on the assessment of risk types according to the position paper of the Wissenschaftsrat (12 March 2025), detailed there: p. 70 ff:
- Undesirable outflow of knowledge and technology
- Undesirable influence on the science system
- Financial and scientific dependencies
- Interference of scientific activities with other areas of society
- Violation of research ethics or ethical principles.
Case studies
Case studies of the joint committee on dealing with security-relevant research.
The question of safety relevance has a legal and an ethical component. Basic principle: legal compliance before ethical considerations
Various areas can be affected for which one can ask whether there is a security relevance:
- Subject/topic (what is being researched?),
- Co-operations (with whom is research being conducted?),
- HU researchers abroad (where is research being conducted?),
- Access to sensitive information (who is conducting research (here)?)
The joint committee of the DFG and Leopoldina provides extensive information on security-related research and international cooperation, including separate information on academic cooperation with China.
- Legally, the first point of contact is Export Control. Please visit this page for further information.
- For ethical reflection, the ethics committees of the faculties are the first point of contact for researchers at Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin.
- In addition, researchers have the option of contacting the "Joint Commission for Ethics in Safety-Related Research (KEF)" of the FU, Charité and HU. Representative of the HU: Prof Dr Torsten Meireis.
- International Department Advice on sensitive co-operations.
- China Competence Training Centre (CCT) helps to assess the opportunities and risks of co-operations and transfer projects with China.
Please note
Legally, the first port of call is Export Control.
Data protection and informed consent
The informed consent of study participants plays a role in research ethics - both in the collection of data and in the subsequent use of data.
- German Society for Psychology. (n.d.). Data protection recommendations for the preparation of a declaration of consent in the context of research projects.
- FDZ Qualiservice. (n.d.). Data protection - Informed consent: Sample forms. Sample consent forms for various use cases and handout (for primary research and secondary use, German and English). University of Bremen. See also: Kretzer, S., Mozygemba, K., Heuer, J.-O. & Huber, E. (2020). Explanations on the use of the informed consent templates provided by Qualiservice. University of Bremen.
- Huber, E. & Imeri, S. (2021).Informed consent in ethnographic research: A common practice facing new challenges (Qualiservice Working Papers No. 4). Bremen. University of Bremen.
- Schaar, K. & Schuster, H. (2919). Annotated template for consent forms: Developed in the CASTELLUM project: [Reviewed and annotated by staff from MPICBS (Dr J?ran Lepsien, Maria Paerisch), MPIB (Dr Nadine Fleischhut, Dr Bj?rn Meder, Thomas Feg), MPIP (Dr Norma Grandi) & MPIA (Dr Cornelius Abel)]. doi: 10.17617/2.3286750.
- Council for Social and Economic Data. (2020). Data protection handout: 2nd completely revised edition. Revised by Prof. Dr Matthias B?cker and Dr Sebastian Golla in cooperation with the German Data Forum (Output Series, 6th appointment period No. 8). Berlin. doi: 10.17620/02671.50. (With data protection checklist)
- Schaar, K. (2017). Informed consent as a prerequisite for the (re-)use of research data: Contribution to the standardisation of declarations of consent in the research sector, taking into account the requirements of the GDPR and ethics guidelines (RatSWD Working Paper 264/2017). Berlin. German Council for Social and Economic Data (RatSWD). doi: 10.17620/02671.12.
- TransMIT Centre for Scientific-Psychological Services. (n.d.). Various consent templates, including general and special information for participants, e.g. on MRI/EEG/TMS studies, code word creation, consent to image and sound recordings, genetic analyses, release from confidentiality. Templates for submitting applications.
- Research Data Education Network. (n.d.). Consent, checklist, samples and templates, also in simple language: Informed consent: Consent forms for surveys and interviews].
Research ethics in teaching
Case studies, teaching slide sets, games and apps: there are numerous materials and media that can be used in teaching to raise awareness of the topic of "research ethics". You can find a selection here.
- British Educational Research Association. (2019). BERA Research Ethics Case Studies: 1. Twitter, data collection & informed consent. London.
- British Educational Research Association. (2019). BERA Research Ethics Case Studies: 2. researcher wellbeing & international fieldwork. London.
- British Educational Research Association. (2019). BERA Research Ethics Case Studies: 3rd London. Anticipating the application & unintended consequences of practitioner research.
- German Informatics Society (2021). Bits of conscience: Case Studies on Computer Science and Ethics. Bits of conscience: Case studies on computer science and ethics
- Teaching concept in 13 modules (psychology). You can access the modules via the document "Terms of use": DGPs (German Society for Psychology). (2024). Research Ethics in Teaching: A Concept in 13 Modules - Preamble, Terms of Use. Research ethics in teaching: A concept in 13 modules
- Council for Social and Economic Data. (2019). Teaching and practice materials for academic teaching. Fundamentals of research ethics in the social and economic sciences. Teaching and practice materials for academic teaching. Fundamentals of research ethics in the social and economic sciences,
- Council for Social and Economic Data. (2023). Research data management for small projects in the social and economic sciences: RatSWD teaching slides for own use in research and teaching. Output of the working group "RDM Services for small research projects" (set of teaching slides).
- Game and app: Erasmus University Rotterdam: Dilemma Cards for download (pdf) and app, which can be downloaded from the popular stores.
- Comprehensive information on research ethics for researchers, ethics committees and teachers can be found on the "Best Practice Research Ethics" portal of the German Data Forum (RatSWD):
- The "Ethical, Social and Legal Aspects" (ELSA) section of the National Research Data Infrastructure offers further recommendations on research ethics:
- Literature recommendations of the project Research Ethics in Communication and Media Studies (FeKom) The literature is sorted by keyword:
Some of the professional societies in the various research disciplines also maintain higher-level ethics committees to which researchers can turn with their questions on research ethics assessment.
Exchange platform of the ethics committees (internal)
Information for the ethics committees of the faculties.