research
Kaire Kallak
secretary

Research Ethics Committee of the University of Tartu

According to the new “Organisation of Research and Development and Innovation Act”, institutional ethics committees of universities and positively evaluated applied higher education institutions are authorized to assess only the ethical aspects of research conducted by their own employees and students. A national research ethics committee was established under the Estonian Research Council (ETAG).

The Research Ethics Committee of the University of Tartu assess only the ethical aspects of research conducted by UT´s employees and students, and financed by UT internal funds.

NEW: Starting with the August meeting of the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Tartu, applications must be submitted via the Estonian Research Information System (ETIS), including applications for the August meeting.

For more information, please contact Kaire Kallak [email protected].

Applications are submitted to the Research Ethics Committee via the Estonian Research Information System (ETIS) using a dedicated electronic form. The application form can be accessed after logging into ETIS. In ETIS, select “Create an application” on the Desktop and choose the form “University of Tartu Research Ethics Committee Applications (TEET-UT) 2026 Application (18.062026–31.12.2026).”

Ethics Committee approvals are also processed in ETIS.

The University of Tartu Research Ethics Committee assesses the ethical and data protection aspects of studies on humans. This applies to research projects related to biomedicine as well as behavioural and social sciences.

The committee is an independent body of experts aiming to ensure that the health, human dignity, identity, security of person and other fundamental rights and freedoms of the subjects of research projects are protected.


Upcoming application deadlines and timetable of the committee meetings:

Deadline for submitting documentsCommittee meeting
06 August 202617 August 2026
10 September 202621 September 2026
08 October 202619 October 2026
05 November 202616 November 2026
10 December 202621 December 2026

The deadline ends at 16:00.

An application is considered submitted once the Head of the Institute and the Secretary of the Research Ethics Committee have approved it.

NB! Before approval, the Secretary of the Research Ethics Committee will carry out a formal compliance check. For this check, the application must be completed in ETIS at least one working day before the submission deadline.


Statutes of the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Tartu

From 31 January 2022, only one ethics committee in Estonia will carry out ethical evaluations of clinical trials of medicinal products for human use. The committee is subordinated to the State Agency of Medicines.

Information about the new Clinical Trials Regulation and the Ethics Committee is available on the website of the State Agency of Medicines https://www.ravimiamet.ee/en/clinical-trials-0