The purpose of the ethics committees at Hebrew University is to assess the extent to which research proposals meet the ethical and legal standards for conducting studies involving human participants. Any such research must receive prior approval from a faculty or university-level ethics committee.

Hebrew University’s ethical guidelines can be found here. The document includes the definition of “research involving human participants,” principles of informed consent and anonymity, as well as ethical considerations in research planning.

Studies involving human participants—including those conducted in the humanities—must undergo ethical approval. Any research that requires interaction with living human beings and examines the processes they undergo is considered research with human subjects and requires ethical approval, including research conducted on social media platforms.

Applying for ethical approval also requires us, as researchers, to reflect on the ethical implications of our involvement in the lives of research participants and to take precautions that protect their autonomy and privacy.
Moreover, both funding bodies and academic journals now require ethical approval, making research ethics essential not only to our work as researchers but also to the training of graduate students.

For more information, visit the Research and Experiments website.
Or contact the relevant R&D Committee.