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Research Ethics and Compliance Support

 

When applying for external funding or when submitting papers to scientific journals, researchers are sometimes demanded to prove that their research projects comply with ethical standards.

SDU provides a research ethics review and approval service. A research ethics approval from SDU is an offer, not a requirement.

Get a Research Ethics Approval

To apply for an ethics approval, you must fill in an application form and upload relevant documentation for the Research Ethics Committee (REC) at SDU.

Which projects can be reviewed by SDU’s Research Ethics Committee?

SDU researchers, including PhD students, can apply for a research ethics review and approval of their projects. SDU’s Research Ethics Committee does not review students’ research projects.
Projects are eligible for review only before participant recruitment and before data collection has been initiated.

SDU’s Research Ethics Committee generally does not review projects that have already obtained an ethics approval from another ethics review body. This also applies to projects that are legally obligated to obtain ethics approval from the Regional or National Committees on Health Research Ethics. However, there may be exceptions.
For instance, a clinical research project funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) may need approval from the Regional Committee on Health Research Ethics as well as from SDU’s Research Ethics Committee.

Validity should be renewed

All approvals have a period of validity of 12 months from the date of issue. You will receive a link to an application for renewal two months before the approval expires.

Contact

For questions or comments please contact

GDPR-related issues

For questions regarding GDPR

The Research Ethics Committee (REC) checks if a research project meets certain ethical standards.

REC reviews projects with SDU researchers as principle investigators. The committee reviews and approves research projects from SDU researchers. This service is not available for student projects.

The REC includes a chair person, a lay/community representative, representatives from the administration, and representatives from each of SDU’s five faculties.

The REC receives applications continuously. You will get a confirmation when you submit your application.

After you submit your application, it is processed by SDU's Research Ethics Committee and discussed at the next available meeting. Meetings are held once a month.

You will receive an answer to your application approximately one week after the case has been discussed at a meeting.

The answer can be a direct approval, a rejection, or an approval that is conditional on you answering certain questions or making certain changes to the project.

The REC includes a chair person, a lay/community representative, representatives from the administration, and representatives from each of SDU’s five faculties (primary and alternate members).
The REC is supported by a Research Ethics Consultant who serves as the point of contact.

The REC-members appointed by the faculties are:

  • Chair: Professor Kirsten Kyvik (Fac. of Health Sciences, Dept. of Clinical Research)
  • Lay/community representative: Pastor Susanne Haastrup Holst
  • Faculty of Science: Professor Lars Porskjær Christensen (FKF, co-chair)
  • Faculty of Humanities: Ass. Professor Stig Børsen Hansen (IDK), Professor Anne Gerdes (IDK)
  • Faculty of Engineering: Ass. Professor Eva Arnspang Christensen (IGT), Ass. Professor Dylan Cawthorne (MMMI)
  • Faculty of Health Sciences: Ass. Professor Søren Fryd Birkeland (OPEN), Ass. Professor Henrik Steen Hansen (KI), Ass. Professor Mikael Thingaard (IST), Professor Cecilie Thøgersen-Ntoumani (IOB)
  • Faculty of Business and Social Sciences: Professor Stephan Billinger (IMM), Professor Morten Skovsgaard (Centre for Journalism)
  • Corporate Communication: Head of Media Relations Bolette Marie Kjær Jørgensen
  • SDU Library: Research Librarian Lone Bredahl Jensen, Research Librarian Mette Brandt Eriksen

What information do I need to fill out the application form?

Start your application by going to the application start page and enter your name and email address. You will then receive an email with an application ID and a unique link to your application.

Access and fill out your application via the link. The application form is saved automatically as you fill it out. You can always leave the form and return via the link.

What you need to complete the application form

The information about the project that you need to have ready to complete the application includes:

· Basic information about the project, such as project title, information about the responsible/participating researchers, how the project is funded, when the data collection will take place.
· Short layman's description of the research project, in Danish. Divide it into the sections: Background (max 100 words), Research goals (max 50 words) and Methods (max 100 words).
· Your own reflections on the research ethics issues that may be in the project.
· Answers to several questions relating to the ethics of the project.

 

Documents to submit with the application

At the final pages of the questionnaire, you will be asked to upload supplemental documentation. The documents you need to submit are:

· Project description, 5-10 pages*
· Information material for research participants (if applicable)
· Informed consent statement for research participants (if applicable)
· Interview guide, questionnaire or similar (if applicable)
· Other documents relevant to the case
· All documents must be in .pdf format and must have meaningful names (e.g. "Project Description.pdf")

* You must always include the project's full project description/protocol. If the REC application only concerns part of a larger project, or if the project description is longer than 10 pages, then please include either 1) a reading guide that clearly marks which parts of the overall project description relate to your REC application, or 2) a customized project description that describes only the (part of the) project that you wish to assess at REC. The customized project description should not exceed 10 pages.

Application form

Apply for a research ethics approval now. Fill out the form in English.


Contacts Research Support

Jakob Ousager

Research Ethics Consultant

jousager@sdu.dk
60 11 38 46

Possibilities of fast track & explanatory document

Have you already collected your data and submitted your research paper? Then it is too late to get an ethics approval but you can get an exemption letter.

Such a letter explains that your research project follows the law but is in a situation where it is too late to get the ethics approval. It is not an approval but an explanatory document about Danish rules within this area.

Fast track reviews and approvals

Some projects can get the Research Ethics Committee’s approval via a fast track review. All applications are evaluated to determine if they can be fast track reviewed.

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Last Updated 18.12.2023