How to balance academic freedom and data protection

Reflecting on the DCC/Arts/ABJZ event: How to balance academic freedom and data protection

by Marise Timmenga

Researchers are increasingly working with digital data, and are therefore increasingly confronted with legal and ethical regulations regarding data protection. To help researchers become aware of the dilemma’s and take on an active role as a researcher early on in the research design, the Digital Competence Centre (DCC) in collaboration with the Faculty of Arts' Centre for Digital Humanities (CDH) hosted an interactive, hands-on workshop for participants from various disciplines.

In the event, questions were explored through a fun and interactive discussion. By means of serious gaming in the form of a multi-stakeholder roleplaying game, the participants discussed questions and issues that might arise during early stages of research.

Each participant was assigned a card containing the role of a certain stakeholder, each containing their own hypothetical background and interests, and participants were requested to reason from the assigned position. The roles included among others a PhD supervisor, a researcher interested in re-use, and a data subject.

The game and the subsequent discussion of the findings further illustrated that many uncertainties remain for researchers; from good data security practices within research to the legislation that surrounds it, the ethical considerations that need to be taken into account, and the practical implications for researchers. The potential sensitivity of data, combined with an abundance of grey areas and uncertainties indicate the importance of careful and informed decision-making with regards to balancing academic freedom and data protection. The DCC can support researchers performing this balancing act by specifying the risks and measures through a multi-stakeholder assessment in a data management plan.