Information på svenska om forskningsetiska krav från forskningsfinansiärer
Swedish funding agencies
Many Swedish funding agencies ask for a presentation of the ethical issues that the project raises already at the application stage. They also ask for an account of how these issues will be addressed, and how the expected benefits of the proposed research can motivate its being conducted, bearing the ethical issues in mind. If approval from ethical review is required, it has to be obtained before commencing the research, but there is typically no requirement to send the approval to the funding agency. The researcher and the representative of the administrating organization are responsible for ensuring that all required permits are obtained and that the project is conducted in accordance with good research practice, which they confirm by signing the grant agreement. The Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet) is one of the funding agencies asking for information on how legal demands will be met as well as reasoning on other ethics aspects of the research.
EU funding
For EU funding, there are elaborate procedures for ensuring that funded projects live up the ethical requirements. For applications within e.g. the Horizon Europe framework, one must fill out an extensive ethics self-assessment. All projects that qualify for funding are reviewed, and if it is assessed that the project involves complex or serious ethics issues, certain measures may be required, such as engaging an ethics advisor or an ethics board within the project, or special reporting. All research funded by the EU must also comply with the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity (the Allea code).
US funding
Many actors in the USA – from private foundations to federal agencies – fund research, and they have often their own regulations to comply with. For research on human subjects that is funded by e.g. the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the requirements are typically extensive and imply that the research must be reviewed by a so-called Institutional Review Board (IRB). Stockholm University has a routine for such IRB review.
Special requirements may also apply for how alleged deviations from good research practice are to be handled, in particular for research funded by the US Public Health Service (USPHS). What this involves can be found in Stockholm University’s Procedure for handling suspicion of deviation from good research practice. As this governing document shows, Stockholm University has made a Statement on Dealing with Allegations of Research Misconduct Under United States Public Health Service (USPHS) Research-related Activities for Foreign Institutions to the Office of Research Integrity (ORI), assuring that certain procedures will be followed.
The researcher is always responsible
As the examples above illustrate, funding agencies differ regarding the degree of involvement in ensuring that the funded research is conducted in accordance with relevant laws and good research practice. However, it is important to keep in mind that it is always the researcher who bears the ultimate responsibility with respect to these matters.
Contact
If you have any questions about funding agencies’ ethics requirements, or if you need help with the ethics section of your application, please do not hesitate to contact the ethics support function at the Office for Research, Engagement and Innovation Services.