Research permit

As a rule, the University of Turku grants research permits for scientific research concerning the University of Turku. The instructions on this page apply to centrally granted research permits.

Persons outside the University of Turku must apply for a research permit when

the working time of the Turku University staff is used, for example, for research interviews or surveys or collection of other research materials which is carried out during working hours, or an intervention is made in a teaching situation
University students are observed, interviewed or asked to respond to surveys during teaching or in comparable situations
the subject of the research is University equipment, private facilities or events to which the public does not have free access
there is another specific reason for applying for a research permit (e.g. a stipulation of a research funder).

As a general rule, a permit is not required when

the survey or information about the survey is requested to be forwarded via the University's information systems (including email lists) to staff and/or students in general, and the University is not requested to disclose personal data. The administrator of the information system decides whether forwarding the invitation to participate in research is appropriate. If the administrator of the information system decides that the request requires more detailed consideration, they may require that the sender applies for a research permit.
the research is carried out by a member of staff or a student of the University of Turku, and the subject of the research is the University's personnel. However, permit is also required from staff members and students when University students are observed, interviewed or asked to respond to surveys during teaching or in comparable situations.

You do not need to apply for a permit when

members of staff participate in the research in their free time
University students are observed, interviewed or asked to respond to surveys in other situations than during teaching or in comparable situations
research concerns a thesis (bachelor's or master's thesis)
requesting the University to disclose register or document data under the Act on the Openness of Government Activities. In this case, an information request must be made to the Registry, see instructions: https://www.utu.fi/en/description-of-document-publicity-and-information-requests

The guidelines and recommendations of the Finnish Advisory Board on Research Integrity (TENK) must be observed in all research conducted at the University of Turku. The decision to participate in research is made by each individual invited to participate in the study, based on informed consent in accordance with ethical principles. If personal data is processed in the research, the data protection legislation must be observed in the processing and protection of personal data.

In addition to the centrally granted research permits, faculties and units may have their own practices for granting research permissions for studies that do not require a centralized research permit. Also in these cases, the researcher must ensure that the research participants are informed carefully, their informed consent is obtained, and the conditions related to data protection are taken into account.

APPLICATION FOR RESEARCH PERMIT

A research permit is applied for by using a separate research permit form, see above in the section "Links" section "Research permit form".

Mandatory attachments to the research permit application are the research plan / thesis plan, which clearly describes e.g. the objective of the study and research methods, as well as data collection material (e.g. information for research subjects, consent form and questionnaire or interview framework), data management plan and privacy notice or data protection notice? (if personal information is collected from research participants). In the case of theses, the signature of the thesis supervisor must also be attached to the research permit application.

On a case-by-case basis, the research permit application may also require other possible attachments. These include, for example, the statement of the Ethics Committee for Human Sciences or the impact assessment (Data Protection Impact Assessment, DPIA) regarding the processing of personal data. Before preparing the impact assessment, the researcher must contact the data protection officer of the data controller. They will help determine its necessity. The data protection officer of the University of Turku can be reached at dpo@utu.fi. The impact assessment template can be found in the links at the bottom of the page.

The signed research permit application with attachments should be submitted to the university Registrary’s Office either by email to kirjaamo@utu.fi or by post to Kirjaamo (Registry), 20014 University of Turku.

GRANTING A RESEARCH PERMIT AND INVITATIONS TO PARTICIPATE IN A RESEARCH

If your research concerns the entire staff or students of the University, the research permit is granted by the rector. If your research concerns a faculty, a department or a unit, permission is granted by the dean of the faculty.

Please note that the University of Turku may only grant a research permit for conducting research. The decision to participate in research is made by each person who received the research invitation. If an invitation to research is to be sent centrally to university staff or students, the University Communications Unit and the Student Centre Disco will consider suitable channels for disseminating the research invitation on a case-by-case basis.