Ethical review

When planning research, find out if you need an ethical review or permission for your research. Please note that research permission, the participant's informed consent to participate in research and consent to the processing of personal data are separate things. If you process data in your research that is related to living persons, you will probably also process personal data and you should familiarize yourself with the guidelines for data protection in research.

 

Informed consent is one of the most important ethical principles, which means that the research participant confirms their desire to participate in the research voluntarily after receiving sufficient information about all matters relevant to the decision. In order for the consent to be ethically valid, the research subject must receive sufficient information about those implementing the research, the content, goals and risks, the processing of personal data and material, and what the participation requires. The participant must also have the right to suspend the participation or withdraw the consent at any time without negative consequences. 

Download a template for informed consent >

Research participants have the right to know that they are the subject of research, especially in situations where the researcher has also a role other than a researcher's in relation to the participants (for example, as a supervisor, teacher, colleague, social worker, etc.). If you plan to deviate from the principle of informed consent, you must request an ethical review for your research. The guidelines prepared by the Research Ethics Advisory Board (TENK 2019/3) describe the principles of informed consent in detail.

Please note that if minors participate in your research, in addition to the child's consent, you must also inform or request consent from the guardians.

If you are a researcher affiliated with the University of Lapland and your research topic or setting requires ethical review, you can ask for a statement from our ethics committee. Ethical review may be required for example when your research plan involves minors. A review statement may be also demanded by your funding body, collaborator or a planned publisher. You are advised to familiarize yourself with the national principles and guidelines behind the link below.

University of Lapland is committed to "The ethical principles of research with human participants and ethical review in the human sciences in Finland" guidelines by Finnish National Board on Research Integrity (TENK 2019). The first part of the guideline describes the ethical principles for all scientific research that involves human participants. The second part describes the process and principles of ethical review for research involving human participants, in Finland. 

Read the TENK 2019 guidelines >

The research ethics committee gives statements regarding the research plans that are submitted to an ethical review by researchers prior to the beginning of the research. The review on the research plan and methods is carried out following TENK guidelines. The ethical review examines the planned research approach from the perspective of avoiding risk and harm to the research participants, the researcher and their families. The researcher is always responsible for the ethical and moral solutions in the research and the ethical review never transfers this responsibility the ethics committee.

Ethical review is carried out before data is collected. An ethical review statement cannot be issued afterwards.

Ethical reviews are intended to cover research in and after the postgraduate phase. The supervisors of basic degree students are responsible for making sure that the students' theses comply with ethical principles. If an ethical review is necessary, the student requests a statement with his or her supervisor.

Research settings requiring review

TENK guidelines state that a research plan must be submitted to ethical review if any of the following apply:

1. Participation in the research deviates from the principle of informed consent
2. Research involves intervening in the physical integrity of research participants
3. Focus of research is on minors under the age of 15, without separate parental/carer consent or without informing a parent/carer in a way that would enable them to prevent the child's participation     
4. Research exposes participants to exceptionally strong stimuli  
5. Research that involves a risk of causing mental harm exceeding the limits of normal daily life, to research participants or their families or others close to them 
6. Research could involve a threat to the safety of participants or researchers or their family members or others close to them    
   

You may also request a review from the ethics committee if it is required by your research participant, funding body, collaborator or the scientific journal where your results are to be published. For projects, the ethical review is typically carried out immediately after the positive funding decision.

The scope and compliance

Research involving human participants carried out in the University of Lapland falls under the scope of the TENK 2019 guidelines, regardless of the scientific or artistic disciplines. Research that falls out of the scope of the TENK 2019 guidelines are studies regulated separately in the Medical Research Act (488/1999). If the ethics committee states, that a research plan submitted for review falls within the scope of the Medical Research Act, the ethics committee returns the plan to the researcher advising to contact the local medical ethics committee.

If your research includes a research design requiring ethical review, a failure to comply with the guidelines may meet the criteria for a violation of responsible conduct of research. Where necessary, the matter may be resolved through a process for handling allegations of research misconduct.

When your research or part of it is carried outside Finland, you must familiarize yourself with the ethical review practices in your target country and communities.

Please note also that in addition to the TENK 2019 principles, your research area or discipline may have additional or complementary ethical guidelines that direct the implementation of your research.

Required information and appendices

The research ethics committee has prepared a template for requests for statement. Please fill in all required information and enclose the necessary appendices to the request. If you have any questions about drafting the request, processing times or the process in general, please contact the secretary of the research ethics committee (see section ‘Contact us’ below).

Download the template for request >

Information about data protection issues >

Submitting the request

Please deliver your request for statement to the University of Lapland registry, where it will be forwarded to the secretary of the committee.

Visiting address: University Main Building, E-wing, 3rd floor, Yliopistonkatu 8, Rovaniemi
Office hours: Mon–Fri 9–11⁠am and 12–3⁠pm
Tel. +358 40 484 4484
kirjaamo (at) ulapland.fi
Postal address: P.O. Box 122, FI-96101 Rovaniemi, Finland

Sometimes, for example, during the implementation or publication phase of the research, a situation may arise where an ethical statement is asked from the researcher in connection with a study that did not require an ethical review and no prior review has been carried out. In a situation like this, you can ask the committee for a description of the ethical review system for research in Finland.

You can request a description of the ethical review system for research in Finland from the committee by email. Send your message to the registry of the University of Lapland: kirjaamo (at) ulapland.fi and tell in the message in which language you need the description (FI/SE/EN) and which entity requests the description and for what purpose. If necessary, you can ask the committee's secretary for more information on the matter.

As the ethical review is done at an early stage, before the start of data collection, not everything that will come up during the research can always be foreseen in the research plan. It is common that a need to update the research plan to some extent emerges during the implementation of the research. Changes to the research plan that have no effect on the ethical evaluation of the research do not require a new ethical review later on.

A new ethical review must be requested if the research plan is changed in such a way that the change may impede the rights of the research participants or increase the risks or harm caused by the research to people, communities or other research subjects, A new opinion must also be sought if such a new research design, study, or data that has an impact on the ethical evaluation of the research, will be added to the research plan later.

Members

• Professor Kirsti Lempiäinen, chair of the committee, Faculty of Education (deputy member: Professor Leena-Maija Rossi)
• University Lecturer Mari Mäkiranta, vice chair, Faculty of Art and Design (deputy member: University Lecturer Maria Huhmarniemi)
• Professor Sanna Hautala, Faculty of Social Sciences (deputy member: Professor Marjo Suhonen)
  
• Research professor, Florian Stammler (deputy member: Researcher Anna Stammler-Gossmann)
  
• University Lecturer Markku Kiikeri, Faculty of Law (deputy member: Post-doctoral researcher Juha Vesala)
  
• Principal Lecturer Leena Viinamäki, Lapland University of Applied Sciences (deputy member: Lecturer Anniina Tohmola)
• Jari Rantala, lawyer, Data Protection Officer

Meeting schedule

The research ethics committee meets on an as-needed basis. The committee had four meetings on the first half of the year.

The next meeting of the committee takes place 4.10.2023. In that meeting the committee will address requests and materials that have been sent to the registry by 20.9. the latest. 

Only requests that have been delivered to the University of Lapland registry will be reviewed by the committee. Please note, that it will take several weeks to process your request. It is advisable to contact the secretary of the committee before submitting your material for review. For more information about the schedules or the review processes, please contact the secretary of the committee.

 

Contact us:

Petra Falin
Senior specialist
Secretary to the research ethics committee
Research integrity advisor
firstname.lastname (at) ulapland.fi
Tel. +358 40 484 4364