Ethical Issues

Thorough ethical review is an integral part of all scientific research and is needed, not only to respect the legal framework, but also to enhance the quality of research. Ethical review of all proposals will be done in line with Horizon 2020 guidance on research ethics and is mandatory for all applications. 

All research activities in Horizon 2020 should respect fundamental ethics principles, including those reflected in the Charter of Fundament Right of the European Union. These principles include the need to ensure the freedom of research and the need to protect the physical and moral integrity of individuals and the welfare of animals.

When there is at least one confirmed ethical issue, the proposal will be subject to a complete Ethics screening that will assess the ethical implication for the proposed research and assess whether they have been appropriately addressed in the work plan. All partner universities in this programme have well established ethical review committees in place and are equipped to carry out any of the required Ethics assessments. Proposals that involve the use of Human Embryonic Stem Cells (hESCs) automatically proceed  to the second stage of the ethics assessment.

For each area flagged in the Ethics Issues Table, the Fellow will be asked to describe how their proposal meets:

• The EU legislation on Ethics (Directive 2010/63/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 September 2010 on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes, existing EU legislation on data protection and privacy and so on).

• National legislation and good practices on research ethics.

• Ethical requirements of any Third Countries where research raising ethical issues are to be carried out.

Applicants will be asked to explain in detail how they intend to address the ethics issues flagged in the Ethical Issues Table with particular regard to objective, methodology and potential impact of the research.