University wide PhD elective courses
Research Integrity: Framework Requirements, Values and Principles of Action
On 1 November 2017, the University of Tartu, 20 other Estonian research institutions, the Ministry of Education and Research and the Estonian Research Council signed the the Code of Conduct for Research Integrity Agreement.
The course Research Integrity: Framework Requirements, Values and Principles of Action (HVFI.01.002) gives UT doctoral students an opportunity to thoroughly get to know the underlying values and principles of research integrity that should be followed when planning research, conducting it, publishing results and applying the knowledge in society. The course delves into the relationship between the researcher and society as well as the different roles of teachers, supervisors, reviewers, experts and cooperation partners and the dilemmas that come with them.
Course topics:
- What is science? The specificity of the scientific worldview. Different research disciplines and cultures, interdisciplinarity.
- Ethics in science and researcher ethics. What is research integrity?
- The ethical issues of planning and conducting research and applying the results.
- Processing research data and protection of personal data.
- Open Science, Open Data in research and FAIR data.
- Intellectual property, authorship and publishing.
- Loyalty, conflicts of interest and the many roles of the researcher.
- Good practice of research and misconduct in science.
The teaching staff includes experts from all four fields: Margit Sutrop (responsible), Jüri Allik, Halliki Harro-Loit, Ruth Kalda, Aleksei Kelli, Tiina Ann Kirss, Urmas Kõljalg, Marju Lauristin, Endla Lõhkivi, Toivo Maimets, Maria Murumaa-Mengel, Lilian Neerut, Aive Pevkur, Veljo Runnel, Olga Schihalejev, Tobias Schulte in den Baumen, Andra Siibak, Mari Ann Simovart, Andres Soosaar, Urmas Sutrop, Kadri Tamme, Tiiu Tarkpea.
In order to pass the course, students must attend seminars every other week and complete independent assignments, which include reading articles and watching video lectures. At the end of the course, participants must present a final project that's tied to their dissertation: a data management plan, an application to the Research Ethics Committee or an essay on the moral dilemmas relevant to the research project.
The course is taught in Estonian during the autumn semester and in English during the spring semester.
More information: Katrin Velbaum, katrin.velbaum [ät] ut.ee
Philosophical Disagreements
New PhD elective course HVFI.01.003 Philosophical Disagreements (6 ECTS)
The course teaches critical thinking and argumentation skills and introduces you to various interdisciplinary philosophical topics (emotions, objectivity, free will etc).
Two choices need to be made before you can start the course.
- The course consists of two modules. The first module focuses on critical thinking and argumentation skills (3 ECTS), the second module introduces the students to various interdisciplinary philosophical topics (3 ECTS). It is possible to take these modules separately, or as we recommend, jointly.
- The course can be taken as an e-course, or as a regular course with weekly seminar attendance (in the Study Information System it is possible to register to a particular group).
Why should you take this course? This is an intellectually stimulating and engaging course that focuses on the interdisciplinary nature of a number of philosophical topics. The first module on critical thinking and argumentation provides skills that are relevant to all academic disciplines (and these are obviously crucial also outside of academia). The second module will discuss a selection of topics and open up their philosophical and interdisciplinary relevance.
Requirements. The course has undifferentiated grading (pass/fail).
Teaching staff. Many philosophy department’s professors are contributing and they have often involved experts from other fields in the academia (e.g physics, psychology, neuroscience) as well as outside (e.g real estate).
The course will start on September 6th, 2018. First meeting for those who would like to attend seminars takes place in Jakobi 2 – 336 from 16.15 (Thursday).
More information – please write to kadri.simm [ät] ut.ee