In 2014, the German Research Foundation together with the Leopoldina National Academy of Sciences published recommendations for dealing with security-relevant research ("Freedom of Science and Scientific Responsibility").
Following the release of their recommendations in February 2015, the DFG and Leopoldina established a committee to support German research institutions in effectively and sustainably implementing them.
The European Commission has also integrated the topics of research ethics and research results into its framework programme: Article 19 of the Horizon 2020 Research Framework Programme Regulation stipulates that research funded by the programme must comply with ethical principles. Applicants are therefore obliged to indicate whether their project has ethical implications. If so, a self-assessment on ethical issues is required. In this context, the European Commission published a guidance document in July 2015. It outlined the information to be provided on certain issues in order to ensure that the funding proposal is considered complete. Self-assessment not only applies to areas such as animal experiments or stem cell research, but is also relevant with regard to whether research results could be used for military or terrorist purposes ("dual use", "misuse").
