Collaborations, agreements and permits and the use of open data

Collaborations

When collaborating with external parties, including regions, other higher education institutions, etc. it is important to establish the responsibilities of the different parties at an early stage. These responibilites should cover the research data both during and after the project period. This includes questions on what happens when a researcher leaves or changes employment, appropriate storage, ownership of data and any restrictions on use, right to publish in case of open data requirements, etc.

It is also important for external parties to understand what it entals to work together with Örebro University as a state governmental agency. For example, that the principle of public records applies, even for research data. Therefore, it’s not possible for either the univeristy nor its collborators to promise full confidentiality for data created or collected within a research project, although certain conditions or requirements can be covered in agreements.

The content of the agreements is normally developed by the researchers involved, however, it is the prefect of the school who usually signs the agreements on behalf of  Örebro University and therefore needs to pay extra attention to what he/she signs. Questions about what can be agreed upon, which agreements ought to be drawn up, phrasing etc can be addressed to the Legal Office. Questions on data management, storage etc. can be addressed to respective faculty’s Research Data Advisor.

Agreements and permits

Many research collaborations need to be governed by agreements, and this is also a requirement of certain funders. These needs to be put in place before a project begins. If personal data is to be used as research data in the collaboration, these require separate agreemnets or appendices. The most common forms of such agreements are joint responsibility for personal data (when doing research together) or data processing agreements (when someone is analysing something for someone else, for example). Help with templates and support with the agreements can be obtained from the Legal Office.

The use of personal data in research might be more common that one might think. The Swedish National Data Services has released a useful source of information, the ”Handbook for data containing personal information” (under translation).

According to the university's guideline on responsibility in research, necessary authorisation must be sought. Any permissions required must be documented in the University's case management system, Public360. This includes ethical approvals, authorisation for animal experiments, handling of chemicals or flammable substances, but also, for example, authorisation to use genetic resources from other parts of the world, etc. Assistance in registering some of these documents can be provided by the research administrators.

Swedish National Data Service handbook can be found here (mostly Swedish).

The use of open data

When planning the use of open data, it is important to find out how it was produced and the requirements for its use. It is also necessary to check which ethical or other legal requirements apply before the data are allwoed to be used. This might differ depending on which country it recides in or where it is supposed to be used.

It cannot be assumed that openly available data is necessarily free to use (from either an economical or ethical perspective) just because it is open.