Research involving humans or their data that does not fall under the jurisdiction of a Cantonal Ethics Committee may be approved by the Ethics Board of the University of Lucerne prior to commencement. This applies in particular to research projects in the humanities and social sciences, such as:

• Surveys, interviews, and focus groups
• Observational and experimental behavioral studies
• Research in social networks
• Research involving students and their data
• Research involving personal data

Research involving participants for whom no Cantonal Ethics Committee is responsible (e.g., certain psycho-physiological measurements) can also be approved by the Ethics Board of the University of Lucerne.

Collaborations with other Institutions

For projects conducted by researchers from multiple institutions, the institution of the principal investigator (PI) is typically responsible for the ethical review. Other institutions may either recognize the approval granted by the lead institution or require their own review. In such cases, please contact the Ethics Board at an early stage.

Research Conducted Abroad

Medical research involving participants abroad must be approved by both the local ethics committee and the Ethics Board of the University of Lucerne. Field research abroad should also be reviewed by a local ethics committee to ensure compliance with local laws and ethical standards (see Research Conducted Abroad).

For research partnerships with developing countries, please refer to the KFPE Guideline and the Global Code of Conduct for Research in Resource-Poor Settings.

Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral Theses

Research projects conducted by students and doctoral candidates at the University of Lucerne, under the responsibility of either themselves or other university members (with a PI affiliated with the University of Lucerne), can be submitted for approval. Depending on the specific requirements, they must be reviewed either by a Cantonal Ethics Committee or by the Ethics Board of the University of Lucerne.

If the principal investigator (PI) is not employed by the University of Lucerne, they are responsible for obtaining ethical approval. However, in consultation with the supervising faculty member at the University of Lucerne, a review by the university’s Ethics Board may be considered (e.g., if a Cantonal Ethics Committee declares itself not responsible). Please contact the Ethics Board Secretariat for any questions.

Bachelor’s and Master’s theses are reviewed more quickly by the Ethics Board of the University of Lucerne (see Approval Timeline).

Clarification of Responsibilities

If you are unsure whether your research project requires review by the Ethics Board of the University of Lucerne, the Ethics Board can provide guidance.

Data collection for quality assurance purposes, where no scientific publication of the data is planned (e.g., in the field of teaching), is exempt from the approval requirement.

The following research projects involving individuals, health-related personal data, or biological material fall within the scope of the Human Research Actand must be approved by a Cantonal Ethics Committee before they begin:

• Research on diseases: Investigations into the causes, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and epidemiology of physical and mental health conditions.

• Research on the structure and function of the human body: Basic research in anatomy, physiology, and genetics, as well as research on interventions and effects on the human body that are not related to diseases.

• Medical device trials: Studies aimed at evaluating the safety or performance of medical devices, including performance studies of in vitro diagnostics.

These research projects fall into one of the following categories:

• Clinical trials: Studies assessing the effect of a health-related intervention, which may be preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, palliative, or rehabilitative in nature (see Art. 2 of the Clinical Trials Ordinance, KlinV).

• Non-clinical research involving individuals: Studies involving participants without focusing on the effect of an intervention, including data collection or sample acquisition.

• Non-clinical research not involving individuals: Secondary use of data or samples, research involving deceased individuals, fetuses, etc.

• Medical device trials: Systematic studies of medical devices with respect to their safety or performance (validity) involving human participants (see Art. 2 KlinV-Mep). According to (Art. 3 of the Medical Devices Ordinance,) medical devices include instruments, apparatuses, equipment, software, implants, etc., used for diagnosis, prevention, monitoring, prediction, prognosis, treatment or alleviation of diseases, injuries or disabilities, or for the examination of the human body.

Technical assistive systems such as prostheses or orthoses are also considered medical devices. According to (the Guideline on Technical Assistive Systems - Medical Devices in Human Research), certain early-phase projects involving healthy individuals or patients may be exempt from approval by a Cantonal Ethics Committee. However, approval is required for other projects if they meet the following criteria:

• Validation: Systematic assessment of the system’s performance, safety, or compatibility.

• Collection of health-related data: For the purpose of this validation.

• Measurement of rehabiliative effects: Investigating the impact of a system.

• Certification: Aiming to obtain certification for the product under investigation.

Approval is also required for in vitro diagnostic trials, registry studies, and research involving embryonic stem cells.

Procedure

If your research project requires approval by a Cantonal Ethics Committee, submit your application via BASEC to the responsible committee. If your research takes place in Lucerne, this is the Cantonal Ethics Committee of Lucerne.

If you are unsure whether your research project requires approval by a Cantonal Ethics Committee, you can request a jurisdictional clarification via BASEC (top left) (see the guideline).

If a Cantonal Ethics Committee declares itself not responsible for your research project and the project involves participants (not just secondary use of data or material), the project must be submitted for approval to the Ethics Board of the University of Lucerne. Please attach the declaration of non-responsibility issued by the Cantonal Ethics Committee to your application.

Clinical trials conducted abroad must be approved by the locally responsible ethics committee and the Ethics Board of the University of Lucerne. A parallel submission is possible.

What happens if I do not submit an application?

If you conduct a project without the required approval, this may have serious consequences depending on the responsible reviewing body:

• Cantonal Ethics Committees: You may face fines or imprisonment (see link).

In many cases, funding bodies, publication platforms, and academic journals also require ethical approval.

We therefore strongly recommend submitting your application in good time to avoid limitations to your work.

1. Check responsibility: Make sure that the Ethics Board of the University of Lucerne is responsible for your application.
2. Get informed: Find out which documents need to be submitted with your application.
3. Submit your application: Send an email with all the required information to: irb@unilu.ch
4. Review by the Ethics Board: The Ethics Board will review your application and get back to you within two weeks if any information is missing. The application will then be evaluated by the Board.

Important: A separate procedure now applies to Bachelor’s and Master’s theses – see Which documents do I need to submit?

The further process depends on the decision of the Ethics Board.

For Bachelor’s and Master’s theses, the following confirmation from the supervisor is sufficient:

• Confirmation Ethical Review

For all other research projects, the following documents must be submitted as PDFs:

• The application form, including the final version of the information sheet and consent form for study participants

• Final data collection instruments such as questionnaires, interview questions, stimuli, etc.

• If applicable, contracts, local ethics approvals, or other authorizations from authorities

Incomplete applications cannot be reviewed.

The Ethics Board of the University of Lucerne evaluates research projects with regard to their ethical aspects and the well-being of participants. The main assessment criteria include:

• Voluntary participation, confirmed through an informed consent form
• Comprehensive information provided to participants about the study’s procedures and objectives
• Protection of participants’ physical and mental well-being
• Sufficient data protection, either by avoiding unnecessary data collection or by applying appropriate anonymization procedures
• Clear agreements in cases of collaboration with companies or other institutions

The Board carefully reviews these aspects and weighs any potential risks against the expected scientific and societal benefits.

In addition, the Board follows the Guidelines for Research Integrity and the Compliance Guide of the University of Lucerne.

After you receive the decision from the Ethics Board, you will be sent an official notification. The next steps depend on the contents of this notice.

Unconditional Approval
The project may begin immediately.

Rejection with Request for Revision
Due to significant concerns, the project cannot yet begin. Conditions may be set, such as a thorough revision of the project or a resubmission.

Rejection
The project cannot be approved due to fundamental flaws or procedural reasons.

Not Accepted for Review
The Ethics Board of the University of Lucerne will not conduct a review if, according to the regulations, no ethical assessment is required or if the Cantonal Ethics Committee is responsible.

In the case of a conditional approval or a rejection, you must respond to the comments made by the Ethics Board. This typically involves two documents:

• A revised version of the application with all changes highlighted in color.
• A PDF document in which you address each concern (using the same numbering as in the decision letter).

Please submit these documents, along with any additional files if applicable, via email.

The requested start date of the research project (first contact with participants) must be at least two months after the ethics application has been submitted.

During the semester, please consider the following timeframes:

• 30 days until the first decision.
• An additional 2–3 weeks if your application is rejected and you need to respond to the board’s reservations before starting your project.

During semester breaks, the following timelines apply:

• 4–6 weeks until the first decision.
• An additional 2–3 weeks if your application is rejected and you need to respond to the board’s reservations before starting your project.

You may not begin your study until it has been approved. Some funding bodies, such as the ERC, may require ethics approval as part of the grant application, depending on the funding scheme. We therefore recommend that you seek information early and allow sufficient time for the approval process.

If you wish to make changes to your already approved research project or extend the approval, you must submit an amendment request to the University of Lucerne. The following documents are required for this process:

• A detailed list of the changes with justifications

• The updated application form with all changes clearly marked

• If applicable, additional modified or new documents (e.g. questionnaires)

Please submit these documents via email to irb@unilu.ch.

The proposed changes should not significantly alter the approved study design or the associated risks. The following types of changes are typically unproblematic:

• Minor adjustments to the sample size

• Addition of project staff

• Adaptation of the project duration

For major changes, please contact irb@unilu.ch in advance to discuss the appropriate procedure.

Before participating in a study, individuals must be informed in writing—and depending on the circumstances, also verbally—about the research project (objectives, methods, procedures), possible risks, and their rights during participation. After this clarification, participants must provide their written or otherwise verifiable consent to participate. Further details on the information process can be found in our application form as well as in the EU guidelines Ethics in Social Science and Humanities (Section 4) and Article 16 of the Human Research Act for biomedical research.

Please draft the information documents in clear and understandable language, addressing the participants directly. For informing patients, please consult the swissethics guideline.

If possible, the information letter and consent form should be provided in paper format (one copy each for participants and researchers). If information and consent are obtained digitally (via email/web/app), the ethics application to the University of Lucerne Ethics Board must explain how the full study information is presented to participants (without linking) and how consent is obtained (e.g., via a consent button).

Signed consent forms or other consent documents must be stored separately from other data by the principal investigator (PI) for at least 10 years after the study’s completion. Please clarify early on who will be responsible for archiving and destroying consent forms in case of staff changes.

Please also observe special provisions for research involving children and adolescents, research conducted abroad, and the use of deception or incomplete disclosure for methodological reasons.

As a general rule, individuals must be fully informed about the research project and their rights before participating in a study (see Participant Information and Consent). Providing incomplete information to participants—e.g., regarding the methods used or the purpose of participation—or using deception for methodological reasons carries risks both for the participants and the reputation of the researchers. However, if certain socially relevant research questions cannot be addressed without such measures, their use may be approved by the Ethics Board.

Examples of Incomplete Information

• Participants are only informed in vague or general terms about the purpose of their participation, without learning about the actual aims of the researchers.

• Participants are asked to complete a quiz without being told that the study is investigating how background noise affects concentration.

• Participants are instructed to read a list of words or view a series of images without being informed that their memory is being tested.

Examples of Deception

• Participants complete a quiz and are falsely told that they performed poorly, regardless of their actual results.

• A supposed participant is in fact a “confederate” of the research team, whose behavior is part of the experimental manipulation.

Requirements

If deception or incomplete information is essential for a study, the following requirements must be met:

1. Deception and incomplete information should only be used if alternative study designs would be inadequate to answer the research question. The Ethics Board application must include a justification explaining why the research objective cannot be achieved without these measures.

2. The use of deception or incomplete information must be justified by a demonstrably high scientific or societal value of the study.

3. Whenever possible, participants should be debriefed after the study. The application to the Ethics Board must include the proposed debriefing text, which should (a) inform participants that incomplete or false information was provided; (b) explain which information was withheld or misrepresented; (c) describe why this was necessary; (d) offer participants the opportunity to ask questions; and (e) provide them with the option to request the deletion of their data.

These principles apply to a limited extent in purely observational studies without interaction with participants and without the collection of personal data—for example, in public spaces or on social media.

Ethical and legal requirements for research become more complex  when studies are conducted abroad, particularly in economically disadvantaged regions. On the one hand, both the ethical and legal standards of the host country and those of Switzerland must be met. On the other hand, research in such regions should be carried out in collaboration with local researchers and address topics of local relevance. Below are some key points to consider when planning your field research abroad.

Local Ethics Approval
In addition to the review by the Ethics Board of the University of Lucerne, your research project should also be approved by an ethics committee in the host country. Please include the approval letter in your application to the Ethics Board of the University of Lucerne or submit it later. Make sure that your methodology is in accordance with local laws and culturally appropriate.

For purely online surveys involving participants from abroad (e.g. via MTurk or Prolific), approval by a local ethics committee is not required. However, if such data collection is carried out in collaboration with a local institution, their ethical requirements should be taken into account. The Ethics Board of the University of Lucerne can advise you in such cases, particularly regarding possible recognition of ethics approval from the partner institution.

Collaboration
Research conducted abroad should be planned and implemented in close partnership with a local research institution. These collaborations should be based on fair, respectful, and responsible scientific cooperation without “upward accountability.” Refer to the Guide for Transboundary Research Partnershipsby the Swiss Commission for Research Partnerships with Developing Countries (KFPE) as well as the Code of Conduct for Scientific Cooperation of the University of Lucerne.

Relevance
The inclusion of voluntary participants for research purposes should always be justified by a clear and expected societal benefit. This is especially important in economically disadvantaged regions. Work closely with local partners to ensure that your research is truly relevant to the local context and meets the needs of the host country.

Fairness and Respect
Adapt the process of informing participants and obtaining their consent to the local context. In some regions, it may be necessary to obtain not only individual consent but also the approval of the participants’ community. Ensure that interested participants are appropriately informed of the study results (store contact information separately and securely for this purpose). Additional guidance can be found in the Glocal Code of Conduct for Research in Resource-Poor Settings.

Educational research involving university students during teaching activities contributes significantly to the development and validation of new teaching and learning methods. It can also provide students with hands-on experience in empirical research. However, due to curricular requirements and the dependency of students on instructors, this type of research entails certain risks. To best protect students, the following points should be observed when planning and conducting educational research:

a. If the planned activities are to be carried out during class time by some or all students, they must be relevant to the course content and contribute to the achievement of the learning objectives.

b. Students must be informed about any planned experimental studies or other data collection activities for research purposes and must provide their consent to the use of their data by signing a consent form (or through another verifiable method). This information should be provided in writing and early enough to allow students to make an informed decision without pressure regarding the use and anonymous publication of their data. The information letter must clearly state that data will only be used with their consent and that refusal to participate will have no negative consequences. A template and further guidance on consent forms are available in the application form.

c. Students must not be disadvantaged by choosing to participate or not to participate in a study. Therefore, it must be ensured that neither the data collected nor the refusal to provide data affects students’ academic evaluation. Anonymous data collection that prevents identification of individual students is recommended even in educational settings. If this is not technically or methodologically possible, data should be anonymised as quickly as possible or, if necessary, pseudonymised. If the data are collected anonymously, students should be able to indicate—within the data collection tool (questionnaire, online tool, etc.) in addition to the consent form—whether they agree to their data being used for research purposes.

d. If educational researchers collaborate with instructors, any consent forms and raw data containing identifiers should only be accessed by the instructors after the course evaluations have been completed, and only if necessary for the use of data before anonymisation.

e.In general, researchers should avoid conducting studies involving their own students. If such research is nonetheless conducted, special care must be taken to ensure voluntary participation and to eliminate any influence on grading due to participation or non-participation. Consent forms and raw identifiable data must not be accessed until after final grading and the end of the dual-role relationship with the students. The ethical application to the Ethics Committee of the University of Lucerne must explain the dual-role situation and explicitly outline the precautions taken in the participant information sheet.

f. If some participants in an intervention study gain a significant learning advantage over others, this comparative benefit should be compensated afterwards—for example, through a debriefing or by offering the experimental activity to all students.

g. If studies take place during class sessions and contribute to achieving the course's learning outcomes (see point a), participation should not be compensated. Other studies conducted in students’ free time may be compensated, but not with ECTS credits.

Approval Requirement and Responsibility

Research projects involving students must be approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Lucerne before the study begins. This includes studies that involve collecting and using data from ongoing teaching activities for research purposes (e.g. logfiles from learning management systems or exam results), even without an intervention. In both cases, students’ informed consent is required. In justified cases, the Ethics Board of the University of Lucerne may waive the requirement for informed consent.

Projects aimed solely at improving one’s own teaching practice (reflective teaching / instructor development) or anonymous data collections for quality assurance purposes do not require ethical approval—but cannot be used for publication. The Department of Teaching Development and Technology at the University of Lucerne can advise you in such cases.

Research may be conducted in social networks, chatrooms, discussion forums, comment sections, blogs, or other interactive platforms. Social media offer opportunities for participant recruitment, exploring digital life worlds, or collecting data. However, the blurred boundaries between public and private spaces, the challenge of obtaining informed consent, and the potential exposure of both participants and researchers distinguish research in social media from other social science methods. Social media research can be broadly divided into passive data collection and intervention-based studies where researchers actively interact with participants.

Informed Consent

Even if content is publicly accessible on social media, it may be necessary to obtain users’ informed consent for its scientific use. The expectations of users regarding third-party observation and their assumptions about privacy play a central role. The research context and methods used must be considered to determine what form of consent is appropriate.

In studies where researchers interact with participants or prompt specific actions, informed consent should be obtained in advance. Further details are available in our guidelines on Participant Information and Consent and Deception and Incomplete Information.

If additional information is combined with users’ social media data, prior informed consent is required.
Example: Survey data are first collected from a sample of X users, with their informed consent. In a second step, the researchers collect behavioral data from these participants on Twitter. This data linkage is only permissible with participant consent.

Informed consent may be waived if the expected benefit of the research outweighs the need for consent, and at least one of the following conditions is met:

• Obtaining prior consent is technically infeasible, e.g., in large-scale data collection.

• Informing participants would alter their behavior, bias the results, and make the research question unanswerable (see Deception and Incomplete Information guidelines).

• Informing participants would pose a risk to them or to the researchers and cause more harm than the lack of consent. Such risks may include escalation, doxing, or targeted attacks (e.g., in studies involving trolls, hate speech, or extremist groups).

Before publishing direct quotes or other content that could allow for re-identification of individual participants, researchers must obtain explicit consent.

Legal Considerations

Researchers should become thoroughly familiar with the platform they intend to use—its privacy settings, policies, legal terms, and user culture. Using social media for research also implies acceptance of the platform’s terms of use. Many social media platforms prohibit data crawling (systematic web scanning) or scraping (targeted extraction of specific information).

Privacy and Participant Safety

Researchers are responsible for identifying potential risks in their study context and implementing measures to protect participants, researchers, and other involved parties.

• Data minimization should be followed: Only collect data essential to the research question. Collected data must be proportionate to the expected benefit of the study (see Data Protection at the University of Lucerne).

• Usernames are considered personal data. IP addresses, locations, or email addresses should generally not be collected, as they can enable identification. Researchers must ensure that such data is not captured unintentionally.

• Even seemingly anonymous data may reveal identifiable patterns. In justified cases, sensitive data like IP addresses may be collected, but must be stored separately and deleted once no longer needed (e.g., to detect duplicate survey entries).

Further recommendations include:

• Avoid direct recruitment of participants via social media, as this leaves traces. Instead, provide participants with the option to contact researchers via an institutional address or a secure website outside the social media platform.

• Implement a clear anonymization strategy and data access protocols, including plans for personnel changes.

• Original quotes cannot be truly anonymized, as search engines and data aggregation tools can re-identify sources. Consider paraphrasing, summarizing, or using derived variables instead.

• Researchers should evaluate potential risks to online communities under study. Avoid disrupting group ecosystems, infiltrating private groups, or joining public groups under false pretenses (“lurking”).

• Researchers planning covert observation of public forums while collecting personal data should seek internal legal advice beforehand.

Researcher Safety

The duty of care extends to research team members. Risk mitigation strategies should protect researchers from threats, data breaches, doxing, and psychological harm from exposure to disturbing content.
For example, studying extremist groups in online forums may result in researchers being doxed or harassed.

• Researchers should avoid linking their personal social media accounts to study participants. Personal accounts should not be used for recruitment or research activities, as this may endanger researchers, their colleagues, friends, or families.

• When necessary, create research-specific social media accounts or use sockpuppet accounts to protect identity. If friend requests are received on such accounts and are not essential to the project, they should remain unanswered.

• Exposure to extreme content can lead to emotional strain, which affects individuals differently. Teams should monitor researchers’ well-being.

• All team members should be trained in handling harmful or potentially illegal content. Assign a team contact person to report concerns or threatening behavior. Prepare procedures for handling unsolicited messages—for instance, from individuals in crisis (e.g., victims of domestic abuse).

Pausing or Discontinuing the Study

Researchers should define clear criteria for pausing or terminating the study, particularly in intervention-based designs involving participant interaction. Ongoing monitoring is essential, and the study should be stopped if:

• Participants disclose the researchers’ identity.

• Participants publicly reveal the study protocol (e.g., if they learn the research aim, which may bias the results or trigger backlash, or even lead to online or physical attacks against members of the research team).

• Team members receive targeted hate or harassment via sockpuppet accounts from participants or others.

Further resources on ethics in social media and internet-based research:

• Association of Internet Researchers: Ethical Guidelines

• The British Psychological Society: Ethics Guidelines for Internet-Mediated Research

Data protection refers to the safeguarding of personal data—information that relates to an individual, such as their name, contact details, IP address, health data, political views, or posts on social media. The responsibility for ensuring compliance with data protection regulations in a research project lies with the project lead.

This includes compliance with the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP). If the research involves individuals or data from abroad, the data protection laws applicable in that country must also be followed (e.g. the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU).

The following principles must be considered when planning and conducting research involving human participants:

Anonymous Data Collection
If the study design allows, personal data should not be collected. This means refraining from gathering names, contact information, IP addresses, etc. If the collection of personal data is necessary, the data must be anonymised as soon as the purpose of data processing allows. Anonymisation means that it is no longer possible to re-identify individuals using the data (either alone or in combination with other data).

Data Minimisation
If the collection of personal data is essential, it should be limited to the minimum information necessary to answer the research question or conduct the study. The more data collected from a person, the higher the risk of later re-identification.

Particularly Sensitive Personal Data
Certain types of personal data are especially sensitive and require enhanced protection. These include information about ethnic origin, religious beliefs, genomic or biometric data, political opinions or affiliations, health data, sex life, or sexual orientation (see Art. 5 lit. c FADP). Such data should only be collected if both the social relevance of the research and the methodological necessity justify it.
If the planned processing of sensitive data entails a "high risk to the personality or fundamental rights of the individual concerned," a data protection impact assessment (DPIA) must be conducted (see Art. 22 FADP). Please contact the Ethics Board of the University of Lucerne for guidance.

Transparency: How Are Participants Informed?
Participants must be informed—before giving their consent—about which data will be collected, how their data will be used, and what rights they have concerning their data. The participant information sheet (see template in the application form) should answer all key questions:

• What data will be collected?

• Who will process the data, and for what purpose?

• Who else is involved and how?

• How long will the data be stored?

• Where will it be stored or processed—including which clouds or IT platforms (with links to their terms of service)?

• Will data be transferred to other countries?

• Who will have access to the data, and in what form (anonymous or pseudonymous)?

• At what point will data be anonymised or pseudonymised?

• When will the data be deleted?

• What rights do participants have?

Privacy by Design and by Default
Researchers must ensure an appropriate level of data security through technical and organizational measures. Data protection should be built into the project from the start and documented (separately or as part of a data management plan).

Data Collection via External Providers
If working with external partners for data collection (e.g. a survey company), a contractual agreement must ensure compliance with the FADP or GDPR. In such cases, a data processing agreement may be required. The University’s legal department can advise on this.

Import or Export of Personal Data
For data collection conducted abroad, local regulations must be respected in addition to Swiss law. This includes rules for data import/export and storage. In some countries, data protection standards may be lower than in Switzerland. In these cases, the higher Swiss standard must be contractually agreed upon with the data recipient. The legal department can assist with this.
Cross-border disclosure of personal data is only permitted with the informed consent of the individual concerned.

Data Storage

Internal Data Storage at the University of Lucerne
When personal data must be collected (e.g. for follow-up contact or debriefings), it should be stored separately and securely from the research data. This also applies to signed consent forms, which should be stored securely by the project lead.

Approvals always refer to a specific project. Approvals for methods that could be applied across multiple projects are not granted.

If you plan to conduct several studies with the same design consecutively, it may be possible in some cases to obtain approval for the entire series of studies and to submit subsequent studies within the same framework as amendments. To qualify, the individual studies must be conducted within a short timeframe, involve the same participants, and differ only slightly in ways that do not affect the ethical evaluation.

In addition to oral and, in some cases, written information provided to participants of child or adolescent age in age-appropriate language, their legal representatives (parents or guardians) usually receive the full study information and are required to sign the consent form for participation. Please consult the swissethics guidelines and, if possible, test the participant information sheet with representatives of the relevant age group to ensure clarity (e.g., terms such as “science” and “research” should be explained to children).

For research conducted in schools, please clarify with the respective school administration whether the planned study requires additional approval beyond the review by the Ethics Board of the University of Lucerne. For research involving students at the University of Lucerne, the guidelines on research-based teaching apply.

Research projects classified as “minimal risk” are processed more quickly and with a simplified procedure. The classification is made by the Ethics Board of the University of Lucerne in consultation with the Board. Applicants cannot influence this assessment. Typical characteristics of this category include, for example, minimal interventions or the collection of fully anonymised data.

Applicants are responsible for recruiting study participants. The university’s communications office can support you in preparing recruitment advertisements.

Study participants must not have a personal or familial relationship with the project lead or team members, nor be in a position of professional dependency. This helps avoid conflicts of interest and prevents methodological issues that could arise from participants’ prior knowledge.

TREE

Regulations for Ensuring the Integrity of Study Participants (Ethics Board Regulations)

Prof. Dr. Leif Brandes (President)

Prof. Dr. Stefan Boes (representative of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine)

Prof. Dr. Andrew Gloster (representative of the Faculty of Behavioural Sciences and Psychology)

Dr Brigitte Hofstetter Furrer (representative of the Mittelbau)

Giulia Liggenstorfer (representative students)

All members have completed several modules or further training courses in the field of ethics and research.

Prof. Dr. Leif Brandes IRBremove-this.@remove-this.unilu.ch

Applications to the Ethics Board must be submitted electronically with all the documents and papers required for the assessment.