Ethics Committee of the Institute
The Ethics Committee reviews applications and, where appropriate, issues an opinion on the ethical aspects of planned research projects involving human subjects. In its decisions, the Committee limits itself exclusively to assessing the ethical aspects of research projects in accordance with the guidelines of the German Psychological Society (DGPs) and the provisions of the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki (Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects). The researcher’s responsibility for the research project remains unaffected, meaning that the applicant is liable for all consequences under civil law and liability law.
Only psychological research projects (including student theses) that are conducted and/or supervised primarily at the Institute of Psychology at the University of Würzburg by members of the institute will be reviewed upon application. Accordingly, only ethics applications submitted by members of the Institute of Psychology at the University of Würzburg can be accepted.
In principle, requests for the review of medical-clinical research projects or research proposals involving healthcare professionals must be submitted to the Ethics Committee of the School of Medicine (https://www.med.uni-wuerzburg.de/ethik-kommission).
Members
- Dr. Anand Krishna
- Dr. André Forster
- Prof. Anne Böckler-Raettig (Deputy Chair)
- Dr. Barbara Händel
- Dr. Darius Endlich
- PD Dr. Eva Michel
- Prof. Johannes Hewig (Chair)
- PD Dr. Johannes Rodrigues (Deputy Chair)
- Dr. Julian Gutzeit
- Dr. Karolin Teichmüller
- Dr. Karolina Dyduch-Hazar
- Dr. Kristin Herrmann
- Dr. Linda Wilkin-Krug
- Dr. Marie Sophie Hunze
- Dr. Mario Reutter-Dieker (Deputy Chair)
- Prof. Martin J. Herrmann
- M. Sc. Maxi Stiller
- PD Dr. Oliver Herbort
- Dr. Patrick Weis
- Dr. Paul Heineck
- M.Sc. Philipp Ziebell
- Dr. Sebastian Seibel
Information on the two-step process:
Disclaimer: Most forms are only available in German
I. Submit a signed brief application in electronic form to jmu-ethikkommission-psy@listserv.dfn.de (maximum 5 MB file attachment; if necessary, use platforms such as Gigamove). A brief application must include at least the following documents:
(1) Data entry form for evaluating a psychological research project.
(2) Informed consent form and, if applicable, other consent forms (e.g., information on the EU GDPR if personal information is assessed)
If the research project builds upon previously reviewed ethics applications (a so-called “addendum”), it is recommended to include a reference to previous decisions (including the ethics code, e.g., “2026-01”) with a detailed explanation of which aspects of the previous decision are to be expanded upon.
The application for an ethics review must include a brief explanation of the reasons in the email application.
II. Review of the short application by the Ethics Committee. If the short application is deemed unobjectionable, an ethics decision will be made on that basis. If the short application is not deemed unobjectionable, the applicant will be asked to submit a full application. This must include at least:
(1) Full application form
(2) Data entry form
(3) Informed consent form and, if applicable, other consent forms (e.g., information on the EU GDPR if personal information is assessed)
(4) if applicable: grant proposal.
Full applications are reviewed by at least three members of the Ethics Committee. A decision is typically made within 2 months.
If submitting a full application appears necessary for substantive reasons (e.g., due to vulnerable sample groups or particular physical or psychological stress), a full application may be submitted directly. skipping the brief application.
III. On a positive vote, you will receive confirmation that your study is ethically unobjectionable. A negative decision will be accompanied by an explanation; conditions may be imposed or suggestions for changes may be made. In this case, a revised version of your proposal must be resubmitted to the ethics committee for review.
It is strongly recommended that informed consent forms be prepared using the templates provided below. The EU-GDPR form can be attached as an appendix to the informed consent form if personal data of participants are assessed.
