Ethical sustainability is the starting point for all scientific activity regardless of the field. Research that follows good scientific practices is ethically sound and reliable, and its results credible. The responsible conduct of research is also an important part of managing the quality of the university's scientific research. Please see the LUT guidance for ethical issues in research.
Sensitive data refers to information that is classified for restricted dissemination for legal, ethical, privacy or proprietary reasons. Personal data is one form of sensitive data, but not all personal data is sensitive. Personal data refers to any information that can directly or indirectly identify an individual. Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), personal data includes a wide range of information that relates to a living person, either by itself or when combined with other data. Please see the definitions about sensitive and personal data.
Informing research participants about how their personal data will be processed is an essential aspect of the transparency principle under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Participants should be given clear information so that they can understand how their data is being collected, utilized, stored, shared, or otherwise handled. This needs to be planned in the data management plan before the research is conducted.
Finnish National Instructions for planning the management of confidential and personal data can be found in Zenodo.
Ensuring data protection and GDPR compliance in research data management is essential for safeguarding personal information, maintaining ethical standards, and avoiding legal penalties. Researchers must be proactive in understanding and implementing these regulations throughout their data lifecycle. LUT's practices in data protection are collected to LUT Intranet page.
Please see LUT's Data Protection Training Course for Research on LUT Moodle.
Sources:
Finnish Social Science Data Archive (no date) Informing research participants about the processing of their personal data. Available at https://www.fsd.tuni.fi/en/services/data-management-guidelines/informing-research-participants/ (Accessed: 25 Sept 2024)
University of Eastern Finland (2024) Responsible data management and sharing. Available at https://blogs.uef.fi/ueflibrary-bors/open-research-data/responsible-data-management-and-sharing/ (Accessed: 25 Sept 2024)