Principles and policies in research

Hanken's strategy is reflected in the mission and vision statements which form the key principles and policies related to research activities .

The crucial role played by high-quality scientific research in Hanken’s 2030 strategy is reflected in Hanken’s strategic mission and vision Opens in new window . Hanken’s mission is to “educate responsible professionals for the global economy and changing society through research characterised by high academic quality and corporate-world relevance”. The strategic vision of Hanken is “to be an internationally highly regarded research driven, stand-alone business school responding to global business and societal challenges innovatively and responsibly”.

Further strategic principles and policies of Hanken, with respect to research, include the following.

Evaluation of Research

The research activities are reviewed regularly every five years based on an external evaluation by an international expert panel.

Aiming at both scientific impact and corporate and societal relevance

We encourage our researchers to engage in high-quality research with both scientific impact and corporate and societal relevance.

Respecting academic and research freedom of faculty

We fully respect the faculty’s academic freedom with regards to the choice of specific research topics and research methods as well as publication outlets.

Committed to providing high-quality PhD programme

We are committed to maintaining and offering a high-quality PhD programme Opens in new window , in addition to our research-based study programmes at the BSc and MSc levels, and in executive education. 

Following guidelines for responsible and ethical conduct of research

We educate our researchers about national and international guidelines for responsible and ethical conduct of research and require all our researchers to follow those guidelines. We are committed to complying with the general ethical guidelines of Finnish National Board on Research Integrity Opens in new window , as well as its ethical principles of research with human participants in human and behavioural sciences in particular Opens in new window .

Committed to advancing open science and research

We are committed to actively promoting open science and research, being among the first research institutions to sign the Declaration for Open Science and Research 2020-25 in Finland Opens in new window . One of the strategic development objectives of our research strategy is to “strongly encourage researchers’ efforts towards open science and open access of publications”.

Focusing corporate collaborations on intellectual capital and data

With regard to research collaboration with partners from the corporate world (private and publicly-listed companies, governmental agencies, non-governmental organisations, non-profit organisations), we request partners to primarily provide intellectual capital, data, and managerial time to the research projects. In some cases, partners may also provide limited co-funding to the projects. We do not generally get involved in commissioned research, unless Hanken has exceptionally high expertise in the topic and the topic has substantial public policy implications.

Interest in becoming a research partner and finding new ones

We are highly interested in expanding and diversifying our national and international network of research partnerships, and participate in research consortia with other universities and research institutions as well as companies, public sector organisations, and non-governmental organisations.