Joint Ethics Committee of SRH University and Heidelberg University of Education

SRH University and Heidelberg University of Education have set up a joint ethics committee with equal numbers of members from both universities. This means that the expertise of both universities is incorporated into the committee and the independence of ethics votes is increased by the external perspective of the other university.

Prof. Dr. Alexander Siegmund (Vice-Rector for Research, Sustainability and Digitalisation | Heidelberg University of Applied Sciences) chaired the committee in 2023 and 2024. Prof. Dr. Claudia Luck-Sikorski (Vice-Rector | SRH University Research and Transfer) will chair the committee in 2025 and 2026.

The rules of procedure of the Ethics Committee, the application form and other templates for conducting studies can be found on the right-hand side in the download area.

Please note that only research projects are reviewed by the Ethics Committee. Research projects within the meaning of the rules of procedure include research projects by researchers and doctoral candidates that are not genuinely based on final theses. Doctoral candidates can only submit applications via their supervisor, but can act as co-applicants. Students are not authorised to submit applications for ethical issues relating to academic work themselves and can only seek advice from a supervisor in exceptional cases. Further information on this can be found in the rules of procedure of the Joint Ethics Committee under § 3 (4).

Ethical self-examination

The joint ethics committee supports and facilitates the ethical assessment of research projects by researchers.

In the future, researchers at SRH University and Heidelberg University of Education will be able to use the ethical self-assessment process to reflect independently on the ethical aspects of planned research projects and thus possibly refrain from submitting an ethics application to the ethics committee, especially since not all research projects require an ethical assessment by a committee. In many cases, a project can be classified as unobjectionable in terms of research ethics by the researchers themselves, but also in communication with relevant peers, thus saving time and work.

Reflection on research ethics must always be contextualised and complex. The questionnaire provided serves as a guide and supports the researchers during the reflection process. The result of the reflection should indicate to the researchers whether or not a review by the committee is appropriate, as the ethical self-assessment does not constitute a vote by the ethics committee.

If necessary, you can also ask your funding organisation whether an ethical self-assessment of the research project is sufficient (e.g. for publication of the results with publishers).

The ethical self-assessment and the confirmation of the self-assessment can be found on the right-hand side in the download area.