Privacy

VU Amsterdam has a variety of tools and points of attention that are important when working with personal data.

The ‘Five-step privacy plan’ describes the five steps you must take before you start a new process, project or research involving the processing of personal data. This step-by-step plan helps ensure that you meet your privacy obligations.

It is important to identify the risks associated with the processing of personal data in research at an early stage by performing a Data protection impact assessment (DPIA). Due to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), VU Amsterdam is obliged to perform an impact assessment (DPIA) when the processing of personal data is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals.

The VU Privacy Champions have a checklist that can be used to determine whether a DPIA should be performed. If a DPIA needs to be performed, then they will be able to help you with this.

Scientific research often involves the processing of personal data. It is important that researchers know what rules they have to comply with when processing personal data. Therefore we have provided ten Key Rules to adhere to.

Please also consider safe storage and sharing of data before, during and after research activities.

Research collaborations under grants

When you apply for or receive a research grant for collaboration with other institutions, then the contract must be in line with the grant/call conditions. Also, you will need to agree on some basic topics regarding the execution and implementation of the research results:

- What happens with the research results? Can each party use the other parties’ results?

- Who is in charge of the project/work packages?

- How should the publication take place? And – if relevant:

- How is the funding distributed amongst the parties?

VU Amsterdam’s legal team can assist in the drafting and reviewing of research collaboration agreements for research grants from public funders. Given that most public funders impose a deadline to have a signed contract in place once the grant is awarded, please contact the legal contact person at an early stage!

Contracts

If you plan to conduct research with other institutions, you will need to ensure that the collaboration with your partners adheres to the grant conditions. You will need to agree on some basic topics regarding the conducting of the research as well as the results of the research:

- What happens with the research results? Can each party use the other parties’ results?

- Who is in charge of the project/work packages?

- How should the publication take place? And – if relevant:

- How is the funding distributed amongst the parties?

The VU Legal team can assist in the drafting and reviewing of research collaboration agreements for research grants from public funders. Given that most public funders impose a deadline to have a signed contract in place once the grant is awarded, please contact the legal contact person at an early stage!

Knowledge utilisation

If you have questions regarding intellectual property or knowledge utilisation, then the IXA pages give you access to regulations regarding intellectual property, inventorship and ownership at both VU Amsterdam and other knowledge institutes in Amsterdam. For all forms of legal support regarding all kinds of agreements, licenses and contracts, please consult Legal Affairs at VU Amsterdam.

If you want to outsource any of the activities of your proposed research to third parties, then Institutional & Legal support can check if your agreement adheres to VU Amsterdam regulations. Alongside this, they can also assess the third party and inform you about any potential limitations.

Collective labour agreement (CAO)

Information on the terms or conditions of employment include such topics as salaries, leave, pension accrual and social security. The terms and conditions of employment as agreed with the employer’s association are defined in the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch universities (CAO Nederlandse Universiteiten). Universities of The Netherlands (UNL) negotiates on the terms and conditions of employment on behalf of university employees.