The group has built up core expertise in research ethics and responsible research and innovation through its work at the intersection between digital technologies and people. We believe that at times when digital technologies reach into every aspect of modern life, it is key to critically reflect on the ethical and moral basis by which our research is guided. In line with the leitmotiv of TU Wien - Technik für Menschen - we seek to raise awareness amongst technologists for the social impacts of their work and their responsibilities towards society.

All research impacts in one way or another on people, whether they are participants in a study, users of a system or simply on ourselves as the ones who conduct the work. Ethics is concerned about the wellbeing of these people and society as a whole. Ethical issues can range from protecting the privacy of participants to considering the psychological harm for researchers or critically reflecting on possible unintended uses of research results by others.

Generally, there are two aspects of ethics which increasingly get intertwined:

  • Research Ethics is concerned about how we conduct our research in an ethically appropriate way.
  • Responsible Research is bigger in scope and includes questions about the impacts of science on society and the environment.

We strongly recommend students and researchers interested in ethics to make use of the resources provided by the TU Wien Research Ethics Committee. In addition to those rather in-depth resources, we offer here our own ethics introductions we use in courses and projects:

  • Core Principles - a set of core ethics principles to observe when doing research that involves humans
  • Quick Self Check - a set of questions that can help to assess whether your research is ethically sensitive
  • Ethics Document Template - a template for writing up an ethics statement
Ethics

Resources

Resources

On this page we collect resources for further reading and example documents that can provide guidance in creating your own ethics documents.

Research Ethics Guidance

Data Collection, Anonymisation and Data Protection

Example Ethics Documents

Codes of Conduct

Ethics in authoring and reviewing

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Ethics

Basic principles for human participation in research

Basic principles for human participation in research

Involving people in research: voluntary and safe participation

When human beings are involved in research, two basic principles are central from the point of view of ethics. First, the participation has to be voluntary. Nobody should be coerced or tricked into participating in research. It is good to remember that coercion can take different forms. In university settings, for example, it is important that students do not get the impression that they must participate in research of their instructors and supervisors. Similarly, in the social and health care settings it is important to clearly separate research participation from service provision.

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Ethics

Ethics Self-Assessment Template

What should be in an ethics self-assessment document?

The following structure provides a template to guide researchers through important aspects of ethics.

1) Context Provide information about your work / project / study to set the scene. Such information should include: funding, motivation, expected scientific outcomes, study design, methods used, reasons for this particular research being important…

2) Overall Ethical Issues Describe the ethical issues raised by the objectives of your research, its respective results or findings and the potential consequences of your research outcomes. Provide details about how the identified overall ethical issues will be addressed.

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Ethics

Quick Research Ethics Self-Check

Quick Research Ethics Self-Check

The following is a set of questions that probe whether your research is ethically sensitive and if it is low risk or high risk. The questions are adapted from the ethics self-assessment tool at the University of Sussex.

Will your research likely need a research ethics review?

It is highly likely that you will need ethical review if you intend your research to involve the following:

  • Human participants (with or without consent)
  • If you anticipate that the research exposes any person, participant or not, including yourself, to physical or psychological harm
  • If you will have access to personal information that allows you to identify individuals or to confidential corporate or company information
  • If the research project may present a risk to the environment or society
  • If you anticipate any conflicts of interest
  • If your funding body or other involved organisations require ethics approval

Is my research considered high risk?

If you answer any of the following questions with yes, your research will be considered high risk and will likely require in-depth engagement with ethics procedures.

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