The Ethics Commission
The Ethics Commission is responsible for ethical issues of research projects as a review body. Before a research project can commence, the commission checks whether the respective venture meets the requirements of research ethics including the specifications of the Declaration of Helsinki. The ethics commission examines whether research projects may affect the physical or psychological integrity, the right to privacy or other subjective rights of potential test subjects.
The ethics commission is also tasked with examining the safety and welfare of test animals and thus, the compliance with animal protection laws for all animal-related research that goes beyond mere observation.
The ethics commission is not responsible for ensuring compliance with ethics rules in students’ practical work, unless the work in question is part of a research project.
Ensuring good scientific practice
The Ethics Commission is responsible for ensuring good scientific practice. In safeguarding good scientific practice, Sigmund Freud University follows the guidelines of the Austrian Agency for Scientific Integrity (OeAWI – www.oeawi.at ) in the current version 2019 (pdf).
The Austrian Private Universities Conference (ÖPUK) is an associate member of the Austrian Agency for Scientific Integrity.
An ombudsperson for good scientific practice is established by the Senate. The ombudsperson can be contacted confidentially, they are released from any obligation to report perceptions of a breach of good scientific practice. However, they are obligated to report to the Senate.