Controversy last summer broke out after think tank SA Pere Sihtkapital in conjunction with the University of Tartu launched a study which aimed at finding out why women of child-bearing age chose not to have children. This sparked data protection issues, as investigated by the Data Protection Inspectorate (AKI).

Minister of Education and Research Kristina Kallas (Eesti 200) told ERR on Friday: "We are currently preparing a new law on research, development, and innovation management, which will replace the current Research and Development Act.

"This new law will define more clearly and narrowly what constitutes an R&D institution," Kallas added.

"It can't be that an institution simply states in its bylaws that it engages in research and development, and that's enough. We can see today that there are many pseudo-research institutions out there, and people don't have clear ways to determine whether an institution is actually indeed engaged in research," the minister went on.

"[The proposed law] will clarify the market, defining which institutions engage in research, meet quality standards, and fulfill scientific level requirements. Simply conducting market research does not qualify an institution as an R&D institution," she stressed.

Kallas noted the law will not dictate what names institutions can use, saying: "Indeed, if someone uses the word 'institute,' we can't prohibit that, and it probably wouldn't be reasonable to do so either.

"But names have certainly sparked considerable debate. When this institute was established, the University of Tartu's Institute of Social Studies was very much against the use of such a name, yet we are not regulating that via the legislation," the minister continued, referring to conservative think tank the Institute for Societal Studies (MTÜ Ühiskonnauuringute Instituut).

The new law if it passes means an R&D institution is one that has been evaluated and has received the status as such.

The bill is at draft stage.

State research grants can only be applied for by evaluated R&D institutions, i.e., those with the status of an R&D institution, Kallas added.

The new law will also more precisely regulate issues of scientific ethics, Kallas said, given that currently, topics of science and ethics are regulated only within the framework of the scientific best practices established by researchers themselves.

Kallas referenced controversy from the summer of 2023 as noted above, when data requested from thousands of women for research did not take into account scientific ethics issues.

"This sparked a lot of controversy, particularly from an ethical standpoint, regarding when approval from an ethics committee should be obtained and whether it is possible to receive state funding without the state having verified whether ethical rules have been adhered to," Kallas said.

"To avoid such situations recurring and to ensure that scientific research follows ethical rules, the new law will regulate ethical rules much more precisely."

"A national scientific ethics committee will be established under the Estonian Research Council's ( Eesti teadusagentuur) auspices, which will also stipulate which scientific studies must obtain mandatory approval from the ethics committee before they can begin," the minister added.

At the government's regular press conference Thursday, Kallas specifically referenced the activities of the Institute of Societal Studies, which she said is not a research institution, even though its name might suggest otherwise.

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