Research in 25 years

The Centre for Ethics at the University of Tartu was founded on the conviction that complex ethical questions cannot be adequately explored within the boundaries of a single discipline. Understanding ethical choices requires the integration of philosophical analysis with the knowledge and practical experience of other fields. For this reason, interdisciplinarity has been one of the fundamental principles underpinning the Centre’s research from the very beginning.

The Centre’s theoretical research encompasses value theory and moral philosophy, metaethics, epistemology and the philosophy of trust, philosophy of language and mind, philosophical anthropology, and the philosophy of education and technology. Operating as a consortium, the Centre brings philosophers, physicians, biologists, geneticists, legal scholars, education and social science researchers, communication scholars, computer scientists, and technology experts together around shared questions.

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Research Areas

The Centre’s various research strands are united by a shared interest in the human capacity to understand different perspectives, navigate a plurality of values, and form well-reasoned judgements and decisions in contexts marked by uncertainty, value conflicts, and disagreement.

Value Conflicts and Contextual Decision-Making

One of the Centre’s recurring areas of inquiry concerns how to make well-reasoned moral decisions when several legitimate values come into conflict. It is important to avoid both the absolutisation of a single value and moral relativism. Ethical decision-making requires recognising conflicting values, analysing the morally relevant features of a situation, and assigning justified weight and priority to values in their specific context. This approach has been applied in bioethics, research ethics, education, and decision-making in times of crisis.

Values, Value Conflicts and Moral Disagreement

The causes of moral disagreement cannot always be reduced to differences in values. They may also stem from different concepts of the good life, differing hierarchies of values, emotions, or divergent views about which aspects of a situation are morally relevant.

Key projects

“A Philosophical Analysis of Disagreements” (2014–2019)

Selected publications

• Sutrop, M. (2020). Deep conceptual moral disagreements: Over what do we disagree and why? Trames, 24(3), 295–314.
• Sutrop, M.; Simm, K. (2020). Developing Guidelines for the Distribution of Scarce Medical Resources during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Estonian Case. Trames, 24(2), 251–268.
• Sutrop, M.; Lõuk, K. (2022). Ethical Research in a Global Context: A Dynamic Tension between Universal Values, Principles and Contextual Applications. In: Iphofen, R.; O’Mathúna, D. (eds.), Ethical Evidence and Policymaking, 15–39.

Dialogic Communication and Communication Ethics

Dialogic communication is essential for fostering a culture of participation, mutual understanding, and constructive relationships in families, organisations, communi- ties, and society. It supports meaningful dialogue, collaboration, feedback, and joint problem-solving. As part of the DIACOMET project, six core dimensions of good dialogic communication and related ethical guidelines have been developed. These are supported by the Dialogue Lab online platform and board game, which help users recognise communication-ethical dilemmas and strengthen their skills in critical reflection, dialogue, and ethical decision-making in everyday situations.

Key projects

DIACOMET – “Fostering capacity building for civic resilience and participation: Dialogic communication ethics and accountability” (2021–2026)

Selected publication

Harro-Loit, H., Lauk, E., & Parder, M.-L. (2026). Dialogic communication ethics in practice: Navigating ethical engagement in contemporary discourse. Communications, 51(2), 336–352.

Values Education and Ethical Competence

Research on values in education challenges both the idea of value-neutral education and the indoc- trination of predetermined “right values”, emphasising instead the development of autonomous and reflective ethical judgement. Research on values in education has examined how schools and school culture can help learners recognise, reflect on and justify values, understand different perspectives, and deal constructively with moral disagreement. This work has led to a model of ethical competency that includes recognising ethical issues, understanding different perspectives, reasoning about values, and making justified and responsible decisions in situations of moral disagreement.

Key projects

Values Development Programme 2009–2024

Selected publication

• Sutrop, M. (2015). Can Values Be Taught? The Myth of Value-Free Education. Trames, 19(2), 189–202.
• Harro-Loit, H.; Sutrop, M.; Hirsnik, H.; Nummert, M.-L.; Parder, M.-L.; Punnar, N. (2024). Challenges and Opportunities for Character Education in Estonia. In: Character Education in Europe: Challenges and Opportunities, 123–137.
• Sutrop, M., Harro-Loit, H., Tammeleht, A., Lilles-Heinsar, L., & Nummert, M.-L. (2025). Ethical reasoning or moral competence? In Education for Human Flourishing: Towards Policy and Practice (pp. 47–61). OECD High Performing Systems for Tomorrow Conceptual Framework.

Bioethics, Medical Ethics, and Clinical Ethics

Bioethics and medical ethics have been among the Centre’s core areas of activity since its establishment. The Centre has conducted research and fostered public discussion on patient autonomy and informed consent, the use of health data, genetic technologies, equitable access to healthcare, choices related to the beginning and end of life, and the professional responsibilities of healthcare practitioners.

The Centre has contributed to the establishment of hospital ethics committees and has provided training in clinical ethics for both committee members and healthcare professionals.

One of the Centre’s most significant contributions to public policy has been initiating and leading discussions on advance directives and patients’ end-of-life wishes. Dialogue between researchers, physicians, nurses, patient representatives, legal experts, and policymakers helped build a shared understanding of the issues and ultimately contributed to the adoption of new legislation by the Estonian Parliament.

Ethics of Biobanks and Personalised Medicine

The Centre for Ethics has examined the conditions under which the use of people’s genetic and health data in research can be ethically justified, and how advances in science and personalised medicine can be reconciled with the protection of individual rights, autonomy and public trust. Through international collaborative research, the Centre helped bring the experience of Estonia’s biobank and digital society into wider European bioethical debates.

Key projects

• ELSAGEN – “Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects of Human Genetic Databases: A European Comparison” (2002–2004)
• “The ethical aspects of genetic databases and new technologies: individual versus common values and goods” (2005–2008)
• OpenGENE – “Opening Estonian Genome Project for the European Research Area” (2006– 2008)
• “New ethical frameworks for genetic and electronic care record databases” (2008−2010)

Selected publications

• Sutrop, M. (2011). Changing ethical frameworks: From individual rights to the common good? Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 20(4), 533–545.
• Simm, K. (2011). The concepts of common good and public interest: from Plato to biobanking. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 20(4), 554−562.

Ethical, Legal and Social Issues of e-Health

Between 2006 and 2007, a joint working group of the Centre for Ethics and Tartu University Hospital analysed the ethical considerations associated with the draft Health Information System Act. In col- laboration with the Estonian Medical Association, the Estonian Nurses Association and the Estonian Hospitals Association, the group developed a code of good practice for informing patients about the processing of personal data in healthcare. It also prepared patient information materials, an informed consent form, and guidance documents for healthcare professionals.

Key projects

• “An expert opinion about the handling of personal data connected to the digital case history in the context of bioethics and medical ethics” (2006–2008)
• “New Ethical Frameworks for Genome Banks and E-Health Databases” (2008–2010)

Selected publication

Sutrop, M.; Simm, K. (2004). The Estonian healthcare system and the genetic database project: From limited resources to big hopes. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 13 (3), 254−262.

Ethics of Biometrics and Security Technologies

Through a number of international research projects on biometrics, the Centre for Ethics examined the ethical, legal and societal issues associated with identifying individuals on the basis of facial features, voice, movement patterns, and other physiological or behavioural characteristics.

Key projects

• TECHNOLIFE – “A Transdisciplinary Approach to the Emerging Challenges of Novel Tech- nologies: Lifeworld and Imaginaries in Foresight and Ethics” (2009–2011).
• RISE – “Rising Pan-European and International Awareness of Biometrics and Security Ethics” (2009–2012).

Selected publications

• Sutrop, M. (2010). Ethical Issues in Governing Biometric Technologies. In: Ethics and Policy of Biometrics, 102–114. Springer.
• Sutrop, M., & Laas-Mikko, K. (2012). From identity verification to behavior prediction: Ethical implications of second generation biometrics. Review of Policy Research, 29(1), 21–36.

Ethics of Artificial Intelligence

In recent years, the ethical, legal and societal dimensions of artificial intelligence have become one of the Centre’s principal areas of research. The Centre examines how AI systems can be aligned with human values, how responsibility should be allocated when decisions are made with the assistance of AI, and under what conditions AI-based systems can be considered trustworthy.

Particular attention is devoted to the use of artificial intelligence in education. The Centre also contributes to the work of the Estonian Centre of Excellence in AI, helping to integrate the analysis of ethical and societal impacts into AI research and development.

Key projects

• Estonian Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence (EXAI) – research on the ethical and societal impacts of artificial intelligence (2024–2030)
• AI Leap – analysis of the ethical, legal, social and technological risks of using artificial intelligence in education (2026)

Selected publications

• Sutrop, M. (2019). Should We Trust Artificial Intelligence? Trames. Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences, 23(4), 499–522.
• Simm, Kadri; Liu, Nan; Wu, Honghan (Ed.) (2024). Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Health and Medicine. BMC Medical Ethics. SpringerNature.
• Sutrop, M., Bogdanov, D., Laas-Mikko, K., Kamm, L., Siibak, A., & Trasberg, H. (2026). Ethical, Educational, Social, Legal and Technological Risk Assessment and Value Analysis of the AI Leap Learning Application and Educational Programme. AI Leap.

Trust in Science, Responsibility

In exploring trust, we ask what it means to trust and under what conditions is trust in science, experts, and technological systems justified.

Key projects

IANUS – “Inspiring and Anchoring Trust in Science, Research and Innovation” (2022–2025)

Selected publications

• Sutrop, M. (2007). Trust. In M. Häyry, R. Chadwick, V. Árnason, & G. Árnason (Eds.), The Ethics and Governance of Human Genetic Databases: European Perspectives (pp. 190–198). Cambridge University Press.
• Sutrop, M., & Seppel, K. (2026). Philosophical Insights into Trust in Science: Toward Better Surveys and Policy Design. In: Iordanou, K., Ravn, T., & Zwart, H. (Eds.). Trust in Science. (pp. 119−139). Springer.

Research Ethics and the Development of a System for Good Research Practice

Key projects

• PRO-RES – “PROmoting integrity in the use of RESearch results in evidence based policy: a focus on non-medical research” (2018–2021)
• ETHICSWEB – “Interconnected European Information and Documentation System for Ethics and Science” (2008–2011)
• PRINTEGER – “Promoting Integrity as an Integral Dimension of Excellence in Research” (2015–2018)

Selected publications

• Forsberg, E.-M.; Sutrop, M. et al (2018). Working with Research Integrity – Guidance for Research Performing Organisations: The Bonn PRINTEGER Statement. Science and Engineering Ethics, 24(4), 1023–1034.
• Simm, Kadri; Parder, Mari-Liisa; Tammeleht, Anu; Lees, Kadri (2024). National cross-disciplinary research ethics and integrity study: methodology and results from Estonia. Research Ethics, 20 (3), 514−538.
• Tammeleht, A., Antoniou, J., de la Cruz Bernabé, R., Chapin, C., van den Hooff, S., Mbanya,
  V. N., Parder, M.-L., Sairio, A., Videnoja, K., & Löfström, E. (2026). Manifestations of research ethics and integrity leadership in national surveys – cases of Estonia, Finland, Norway, France and the Netherlands. Accountability in Research, 33(2).