Compliance in Research

Science needs freedom and requires responsibility. The following documents serve as a guide to the corresponding guidelines and directives:

Ethical Aspects

In clinical and biomedical research, conflicts of objectives can arise when the well-being of the patient is not the only guiding principle, but research interests are also being pursued.

The Ethics Committee of the University of Freiburg advises and assesses ethical and legal aspects of planning and conducting medical research on living and deceased human beings. The website of the Ethics Committee of the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg can be found here.

In 1964, the General Assembly of the World Medical Association (WMA) issued a statement on ethical principles in medical research involving human subjects, identifiable human material and data, which is still considered a guideline today. The Declaration of Helsinki (as of 2013) can be found here.

Further recommendations and statements on ethical aspects in science can be found on the website of the German Ethics Council here.

Commitment and Scientific Responsibility (Dual-Use Research of Concern & Nagoya Protocol)

The Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg published the following "Guidelines on the Responsible Handling of Research Freedom and Research Risks" in an official announcement on 20.12.2021 (in German).
Recommendations of the DFG and the Leopoldina on Scientific Freedom and Scientific Responsibility - on Dealing with Security-Relevant Research (Dual Use)(in German)
Notes on the Nagoya Protocol, which regulates at the international level, on the one hand, access to non-human biological material for research purposes and, on the other hand, benefit-sharing with the country of origin of the biological material:

    DFG Explanatory Notes on the Nagoya Protocol for Researchers.
    The German Nagoya.Protocol HuB project helps in understanding the obligations(in German).
    The Federal Agency for Nature Conservation is the competent national authority for the enforcement of the Nagoya Protocol (in German).
    For EU application: EU Regulation No. 511/2014 of the European Parliament and Council (available in different languages).

Working with Genetically Modified Organisms at the University of Freiburg

Regulations on working with genetically modified organisms can be found on the pages of the Safety Office here.

Animal Experimental Research

In 2019, the DFG Senate Commission published the handout "Animal Experimentation in Research: The 3Rs Principle and the Significance of Scientific Research".
Further information from the DFG on the topic of animal experimentation in research can be found here.

Intellectual Property in Knowledge Transfer

Albert Ludwigs University promotes the transfer of knowledge and technology, i.e. the implementation and utilisation of the results of research and development in practice (State University Act (§ 2 para. 5 version of 01.04.2014), EU recommendation [see below]). This exploitation of results depends on the handling of intellectual property, which is regulated in the guidelines below. Licensing, sales and support for business start-ups should be actively pursued and thus contribute to the socio-economic development of the city, region and country.

You can access the transfer website of the University of Freiburg here.
The guidelines of the University of Freiburg for dealing with intellectual property in knowledge transfer activities (Intellectual Property Rights Policy) can be found here. (access only with Uni account, German only) or via E-Mail.
The Central Office for Technology Transfer (ZFT) of the University of Freiburg can be found here.
Support on intellectual property issues at EU level, e.g. for EU-funded projects: European IPR Helpdesk

Data Protection

Information on data protection at the University of Freiburg can be found here.

Information on data protection at the University Medical Center Freiburg can be found here.

Information from the Central Data Protection Office of the Baden-Württemberg Universities (ZENDAS) on various data protection topics can be found here.