Data Protection Notice for Scientific Research

DATA PROTECTION NOTICE FOR

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

General Data Protection Regulation of the EU

Articles 12–14

Date: 23.9.2020

 

Information on the processing of personal data in the research project entitled Manufacturing 4.0 – Strategies for Social Policy Adoption

 The research project entitled Manufacturing 4.0 – Strategies for Social Policy Adoption involves processing of personal data. The purpose of this data protection notice is to provide information on the personal data to be processed, from where they are obtained and how they are used. Detailed information on the rights of data subjects will be provided at the end of this notice.

Your participation in the research project and provision of personal data are voluntary. If you do not wish to participate in the project or you wish to withdraw from it, you can do so without negative consequences.

 

Data Controller

University of Helsinki

Address: PO Box (Fabianinkatu 33), 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland

 

Contact person and principal investigator

Contact person in matters concerning the research project:

Name: Johanna Peltoniemi

Faculty: Faculty of Social Sciences

Address: P.O. Box 54, FI-00014 University of Helsinki

Phone: +358 50 563 3452

Email: johanna.peltoniemi[at]helsinki.fi

Principal investigator:

Name: Heikki Hiilamo

Address: P.O. Box 54, FI-00014 University of Helsinki

Phone: +358 40 358 7203

Email: heikki.hiilamo[at]helsinki.fi

 

Contact details of the data protection officer

You can contact the University of Helsinki data protection officer via email at tietosuoja@helsinki.fi.

 

Description of the research project and the purpose of processing personal data

This project explores and assesses different socioeconomic solutions and provides evidence-based policy recommendations on social security regulations to mitigate the economic consequences of the COVID-19 epidemic. After the initial shock to healthcare and national security, the most persistent effect from COVID-19 will be economic. Due to the lockdown, the adoption of automation may be expedited, leading to permanent changes in the labor markets. The COVID-19 epidemic has already generated an equivalent number of job loss within a short space as time. We study plausible social policy measures in the event of major job losses  from automation.

By combining the results from the first and second part of this project, we develop policy proposals recommending practical solutions.

  • We carry out a European-level comparison of socioeconomic adaptability to divergent hypothetical unemployment scenarios following the lockdowns and subsequent economic recession based on previous analysis conducted with the same method and data. To compare socioeconomic adaptability to the COVID-19 shock, we analyse government revenues from taxes and social insurance contributions, government expenditures on social transfers, total budgetary implications, poverty risks at the population level, and Gini coefficients based on disposable income.
  • Countries have introduced radical reforms to save jobs and to alleviate economic problems arising from the COVID-19 epidemic. We explore variations in social policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in a comparative setting with an aim of identifying the best practices. We will focus especially on employment promotion policies, and policies to support consumers’ purchasing power and domestic demand. The data is collected through an extensive literature review, media content and document analysis, as well as expert interviews. The interviews are done with an online questionnaire.

Each expert interviewee has a personal code number with which they log in to the questionnaire. The code number is needed, for example, to be able to look at the skew of the response set in relation to the sample (for example, whether there are less responses from some countries compared to other countries). It is not possible to deduce the identity of the interviewee from the tracking number. Information on the interviewee’srespond name and e-mail address will not be combined with the material collected through the questionnaire.

The research is carried out in the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Helsinki.

 

Personal data included in the research data

No direct identifiers will be collected nor stored in this research project. Background data, such as country, gender, year of birth and field of expertise will be asked in the questionnaire, but interviewees decide themselves whether or not they want to share this data. The data collected will be used 1) to control the representativeness of the data, and 2) to analyse the data.

At the end of the questionnaire, the interviewees are asked if they wish to receive a report of the data obtained with this questionnaire. Contact data (e-mail addresses) of those who wish to receive the report will be retained until the report is conducted and sent, after which the file will be destroyed.

The personal codes and the data collected will be kept until the end of project period, i.e. December 2021. At the end of the project, the personal codes are destroyed. The questionnaire material is anonymized and stored in the Social Science Data Archive.

 

Sources of personal data

Personal data, as described above, will be obtained with the questionnaire.

 

 Sensitive personal data

No special categories of personal data (i.e., sensitive data), as defined in Article 9 of the GDPR, will be processed in this research.

 

Lawful basis for processing personal data

Personal data are processed on the following basis (Article 6(1) of the GDPR):

Task carried out in the public interest: Scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes

Processing of personal data is based on the research subject’s consent, he or she can withdraw that consent at any time. The withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.

 

 Recipients of data

Personal data will not be transferred or disclosed to parties outside the UH research group.

 

 Transfer of data to countries outside the European Economic Area

Data will not be transferred to countries outside the European Economic Area.

 

 Automated decision-making

The research project involves no automated decision-making that has a significant effect on data subjects.

 

 Protection of personal data

Personal data included in the research dataset will be processed and kept protected so that only those who need the data can access them.

The data processed in data systems will be protected using the following:

Username and password, Registration/log of use, Access control

 

Duration of the processing of personal data in this research project:

Personal data will be kept until the end of project period, i.e. December 2021.

 

 Processing of personal data when the research project ends

The research data will be kept for the purposes of validating or replicating the results of this research project: without identifiers

The research data will be kept for later, compatible scientific research in accordance with the requirements of the GDPR: without identifiers

The storage of the research data is based on Article 5(1)(b) and (e) of the GDPR.

Before the data can be used for other research, the controller will ensure that the new use is compatible with the initial purpose in accordance with the requirements of the GDPR. Data subjects will receive a new data protection notice on the new use of the research data, unless the controller can no longer identify the subjects from the data.

In addition, the data subjects will not be informed of the new research if delivering this information to them is impossible or involves a disproportionate effort or renders impossible or seriously impairs the achievement of the research objectives (Article 14(5)(b) of the GDPR).

Where and for how long will the data be stored: The research data is to be handed over to the Finnish Social Science Data Archive. Access to the data for new research use requires a research plan approved by the UH research group.

 

 Rights of data subjects and derogations from those rights

The contact person in matters related to research subjects’ rights is the person stated in section 2 of this notice.

 

Rights of data subjects

Under the General Data Protection Regulation, data subjects have the following rights:

  • Right of access to their data
  • Right to rectification of their data
  • Right to the erasure of their data and to be forgotten
  • Right to the restriction of processing of their data
  • Right to data portability
  • Right to object to the processing of their data
  • Right not to be subject to automated decision-making

However, data subjects cannot exercise all their rights in all circumstances. The circumstances are affected by, for example, the legal basis for processing personal data.

Further information on the rights of data subjects in various circumstances can be found on the website of the Data Protection Ombudsman: https://tietosuoja.fi/en/what-rights-do-data-subjects-have-in-different-situations.

 

If data subjects cannot be identified

If the processing of personal data for research purposes does not require the identification of the data subject and if the controller is unable to identify the data subject, the right to access, rectify, erase and restrict the use of personal data, as well as any notification obligations and the right to data portability do not apply unless the data subject provides additional data enabling their identification (Article 11 of the GDPR).

 

Derogations from rights

The General Data Protection Regulation and the Finnish Data Protection Act enable derogations from certain rights of data subjects if personal data are processed for the purposes of scientific research and the rights are likely to render impossible or seriously impair the achievement of the research purposes.

The need for derogations from the rights of data subjects will always be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

 

Right to appeal

If you consider that the processing of your personal data has been carried out in breach of data protection laws, you have the right to appeal to the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman.

Contact details:

Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman

Street address: Ratapihantie 9, 6th floor, 00520 Helsinki

Postal address: PO Box 800, 00521 Helsinki

Phone (switchboard): 029 56 66700

Fax: 029 56 66735

Email: tietosuoja(at)om.fi