Ethics Committee
Research Service
26 March 2025
The Ethics committee is part of USI's Commissions. It comprises of at least three members nominated by the Academic Senate. One of the three members chairs the Committee.
The Ethics committee has the purpose of raising awareness of ethical principles in the community and putting them into practice.
The Ethics committee:
- is in charge of examining and approving under an ethical point of view certain research projects and scientific publications, and;
- is responsible for all reports concerning suspected cases of plagiarism or any other scientific misconduct by faculty and academic staff (professors, researchers and lecturers).
Assistance is provided by elected Professors (one per each Faculty) appointed by the respective Faculty Council. The Ethics committee can also rely on external experts.
Ethics review of projects and publications
The Ethics committee is in charge of examining and approving, under an ethical point of view, all research projects and scientific publications that do not fall under the cantonal Ethics committee responsibilities. The Committee review of projects and publications follows all national and international requirements in the field of scientific research (cf. ASS - Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences Guidelines on scientific Scientific Integrity) and the relevant documentation for European Projects. It is up to the project leader to check whether his/her project falls within the competence of the cantonal Ethics committee or the USI Ethics committee.
Applications for review must be submitted electronically via the following link. The applicant will receive a confirmation of the application by e-mail, together with a PDF summary of the data entered.
All applications must be written in Italian or English, and must be accompanied by the necessary documentation for an ethical review:
- cover letter;
- study protocol;
- informed consent form(s);
- questionnaire(s) for participants and/or interview questions for participants;
- any material addressed to study participants (e-mail texts, flyers, posters, etc.);
- any other relevant material for an ethic reviews;
For the preparation of the documentation, we recommend consulting the templates provided by Swissethics.
The required documentation must be compiled in a single PDF file. If the material is amended or modfied to comply qwith the required conditions, the changes must be clearly indicated in red or highlightesd in yellow within the text.
If the study involves the use of multimedia material (audio, video, etc.) subject to ethical evaluation, the person in charge must inform the committee by sending an e-mail to [email protected].
Applications are review on an ongoing basis. The decision of the Ethics committee is communicated within a maximum of 30 days after the receipt of the complete dossier for the review. The decision is provided in English and Italian.
The Ethics commitee may take one of the following decisions:
- Positive decision
- Positive decision with conditions (requires submission of an updated dossier within 30 days)
- Negative decision
- No decision - USI Ethics committee is not competent for the dossier
In the case of degree projects, if conditions are imposed, the thesis supervisor will be required to verify their fulfilment and confirm this to the Ethics commitee via e-mail. A positivi decision is formalised and sent only after the required conditions have been met.
The Ethics committee does not examine research projects retroactively, i.e. after data collection has already begun, but may give an advisory opinion at the request of the responsible person.
Suspected cases of plagiarism or any other scientific misconduct
The Ethics committee is responsible for all reports concerning suspected cases of plagiarism or any other scientific misconduct by faculty and academic staff. Misconduct in science occurs for example when an employee forges, conceals or makes up research data, or claims a right as co-author of a publication without providing any essential contribution. It also occurs with the wrongful appropriation of someone else's words, ideas, researches or scientific discoveries (plagiarism).
In this regard, the art. 25 of the Regulations on general working conditions for academic staff at the Università della Svizzera italiana requires the employee to personally perform the work assigned with due care in order to loyally protect the university's legitimate interests. Specifically, the employee has to follow the highest ethical standards while selecting and adopting research methodologies, as well as circulating and using results. He is asked to acknowledge in the form of quotation any intellectual debt of any third party contribution. Conflict of interest should be avoided in all cases, while carrying out teaching and research activities.
Each collaborator has the duty to report to the Ethics committee every alleged case of plagiarism or other known misconduct. Confidentiality on the plaintiff identity is guaranteed.
In respect of such confidentiality, the Ethics committee will handle all internal requests and notify the University Council regarding any action to be taken against the collaborator. The University Council may reprimand, suspend or, in severe cases including plagiarism, fire the employee, ordering to withdraw the publication made available to the public as a result of the misconduct.
To report a suspected case of plagiarism or any other scientific misconduct, please contact [email protected].
Current members
The Ethics committee is currently composed as follows:
Monica Landoni
President of the Ethics Committee
Davide Cerutti
Member
Marta Fadda
Member
Assistance for research projects is provided by the following delegates of USI's faculty:
- Academy of Architecture:
Prof. Christoph Frank - Faculty of Biomedical Sciences:
n. n. - Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society:
Prof. Fabio Pusterla
Prof. Annegret Hannawa - Faculty of Economics:
Prof. Antonietta Mira - Faculty of Informatics:
Prof. Silvia Santini
For general information and enquiries: [email protected]