Doctoral students from the universities of Konstanz and Tartu participate in a workshop on research ethics and integrity

Today, 9 February, the workshop Research Ethics and Researchers’ Integrity for doctoral students from the universities of Konstanz (Germany) and Tartu (Estonia) will be organised by the Centre for Ethics, University of Tartu.

The aim of the research ethics workshop is to bring together the doctoral students from the universities of Konstanz and Tartu in order to share experiences and knowledge on research ethics and codes of conduct for research. Students from three Doctoral Schools of the University of Konstanz and five Doctoral Schools of the University of Tartu will meet to discuss research integrity.

The doctoral students will gain knowledge about ethical frameworks, principles and practices in research. During the workshop, they will be given feedback about the ethical aspects of their homework based on their own doctoral theses, as well as practical advice from experts on ethics. The students will solve value dilemmas that researchers may face, in order to improve their skills of argumentation and discussion. They will also visit the Estonian Genome Center and Chemicum and Physicum of the University of Tartu.

The cooperation between the University of Tartu and University of Konstanz began already in 2000 and has remained strong since. Professor Margit Sutrop, the Head of the Centre for Ethics of the University of Tartu and ethics expert at the European Commission, helped the University of Konstanz formulate their ethical rules and now, doctoral students from the same university get the opportunity to visit a conference where the first draft of the Estonian Code of Conduct for Research Integrity is introduced.

The workshop is organised by the Centre for Ethics of the University of Tartu and as a project of the Baltic-German University Liaison Office, is supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds from the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic Germany.