General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and research: New guidance available

The introduction of new data protection regulations via the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 require the University to review the robustness and provide guidance on personal data within research.

A GDPR guidance note (available at: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/legal/data_protection/) has been produced to help researchers to ensure regulatory compliance following the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation and to meet best practice in research ethics and data governance.

Key points

The new regulations offer the opportunity to ensure that staff regularly review the steps they’re taking to protect personal data. The consent process and your mechanisms for data storage and use should be subject to ongoing review to ensure that good practice standards are met and that research participant’s rights and wishes are respected.

The following points from the guidance note provide some of the key actions to take to meet best practice in data protection:

  • Update your participant consent forms and participant information sheets
  • Review your data processing arrangements
  • Safeguard any transfer of data outside the EU, and ensure you have explicit participant consent for any transfer of data outside the EU

Training for GDPR

A GDPR awareness training module is now available in VITAL and can be accessed here.

For any questions or queries regarding GDPR at the University, please contact the Data Protection and Freedom of Information Officer, Victoria Heath at: V.Heath@liverpool.ac.uk

Leave a comment