Ethics Committee

The Ethics Committee of the Fernando Pessoa University is a multidisciplinary and independent advisory body to the Rectorate, which ensures compliance with ethical standards in the exercise of scientific research whenever necessary, protecting and guaranteeing human dignity and integrity, and safeguarding the exercise of consent as the basis for respect for autonomy of will. The UFP Ethics Committee thus analyzes and reflects on research topics involving ethical issues, issuing opinions on them.

According to the Rector's Order of 21/10/2019, regarding the procedures to be followed for the submission of research projects to the Ethics Committee by students, teachers and researchers of UFP, the aforementioned submission is mandatory whenever:
i) the institution/entity/country where the study will be conducted does not have an Ethics Committee;
ii) the institution/entity/country where the study will be conducted has an Ethics Committee but requires, for the purposes of processing the application, the opinion of the Ethics Committee of the proposing institution (in this case, UFP).

In cases where the institution/entity/country has its own Ethics Committee, but does not require the opinion of the UFP Ethics Committee, the submission of the research project, although recommended, is not mandatory and is therefore optional.

The Ethics Committee analyzes projects that meet the requirements defined in points i) and ii) with regard to the ethical issues involved, but this does not exempt researchers from requesting institutional authorization from the competent bodies of the Fernando Pessoa University when studies are in question where the participants are members of our academic community or to whom the University provides services.

Research proposals must be submitted before the study begins and, where applicable, before submission to the Ethics Committees of the institutions/entities/country where the study will be conducted.

These procedures apply to all UFP students, faculty, and researchers who intend to conduct research not only outside of Portugal but also within our country.

The University Ethics Committee has a form for submitting projects (PDF) which will be reviewed by the same. This form must be downloaded and completed offline. Then, it must be sent as a PDF, by email, to the Directorate of the respective Faculty, along with the following scanned documents:
a) Letter from the supervisor, attesting to their awareness and giving their agreement.
b) Declaration of authorization for the study to be carried out by the institution(s) where it will take place (if applicable)
c) Informed Consent Form(s) (if applicable)
d) Surveys/questionnaires; interview guides; or other data collection instruments
(e) Authorization for the use of the instruments by their authors (if applicable)
f) Research project proposal
g) Whenever applicable, the document approving the topic by the Coordination of the respective course must be included in the project submission to the CE (Q52-1 in the case of Integrated Master's degrees and Continuing Master's degrees (2nd cycle); Q51-1 in the case of Bachelor's degrees).

The Faculty Directors will forward the document and the remaining scanned elements to the Ethics Committee. The email addresses for the respective Faculty Directors are:
• Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Faculty of Science and Technology: secfaculdades-fct-fchs@ufp.edu.pt
• Faculty of Health Sciences: fcs@ufp.edu.pt

The UFP Ethics Committee provides four informed consent forms, which should be used according to the type of participants included in the study:
• Clinical area: adult – PT/FR;
• Clinical area: legal guardian of a minor – PT/FR;
• Non-clinical area: adult – PT/FR;
• Non-clinical area: legal guardian of a minor – PT/FR.

Responsibility for complying with the opinions issued by the Ethics Committee:
Research proposals submitted to the Ethics Committee must be signed by the principal investigator and their supervisor, who is responsible for ensuring that the Committee's opinions are respected.

If, for justified reasons, it is not possible to fully comply with the opinion of the Ethics Committee, the Supervisor and the Co-Supervisor will assume responsibility before the Ethics Committee for the decisions they make with the student in order to enable the conclusion of the investigation in a manner consistent with the opinion issued by the Ethics Committee, or they will inform the Ethics Committee of any changes that may require a new opinion from the Ethics Committee.

Note: Documentation for review by the Ethics Committee may be submitted in Portuguese or English. If necessary, documents may be translated, with the translation and its content being the sole responsibility of the proposing researcher.

• September 12, 2025
• October 10, 2025
• November 7, 2025
• December 12, 2025
• January 9, 2026
• February 6, 2026
• March 6, 2026
• April 10, 2026
• May 15, 2026
• June 12, 2026
• July 10, 2026

• European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity, ALLEA – All European Academies, Berlin, 2018 (PDF)
• Declaration of Helsinki, World Medical Association, 2013 (PDF)
• Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, UNESCO, 2005 (PDF)
• Integrity in Scientific Research, CNECV, 2018 (PDF)

The Ethics Committee of the Fernando Pessoa University informs that research studies carried out by Master's and Doctoral students of the Fernando Pessoa University, which involve data collection in Brazil and therefore must be submitted to the Plataforma Brasil, may be presented to it, if the proponents so wish, before that submission.

Submission to the Brazil Platform is made within the framework and in compliance with CNS Resolution 466/12, which defined the scope of research involving human beings: “research that, individually or collectively, has as a participant a human being, in whole or in part, and involves them directly or indirectly, including the handling of their data, information or biological materials”; interviews, application of questionnaires, use of databases and reviews of medical records are also considered research involving human beings.”

1. The researcher responsible for the submission is the student;
2. The proposing university is the Fernando Pessoa University, which is responsible for awarding the degree;
3. The institution's representative is the Academic Pro-Rector, who must sign the proposal submitted to Plataforma Brasil. The researcher should consider the following documents before requesting the signature:
3.1. Instructions for forwarding the Cover Sheet generated by the Plataforma Brasil system for signature (PDF);
3.2. Supervisor's Statement – Brazil Platform (DOC)

The CE is available to clarify any questions that may arise regarding its area of operation and can be contacted via email: comissaodeetica.ufp@ufp.edu.pt.