Data privacy in research and RDI ethics
Data privacy and RDI ethics at HAMK
Data privacy practices and ethical principles are at the heart of our high quality research, development and innovation.
On this website, we have compiled information on data privacy in research and RDI ethics at HAMK.
Data privacy in research projects
Projects must also take into account the legislation on the processing of personal data. The general principles relating to the processing of personal data are:
- Diligence
- Use of secure tools and procedures
- Collection of personal data relevant to the research
- Purpose limitation
- Wherever possible, research data will be anonymised or pseudonymised. However, pseudonymised data is still personal data. For international research projects, it is particularly important to anonymise data if the data are processed outside the EU/EEA.
Heigher education institutions and research institutes work together to prepare a code of conduct for research. This page and related guidelines will be updated as new guidelines become available.
HAMK’s detailed guidelines for data privacy are available on HAMK’s intranet (requires login)
RDI ethics
In the universities of applied sciences, ethical issues are taken into account in all research, development and innovation activities, which is why research ethics is in HAMK also referred to as RDI ethics.
One prerequisite for the reliability and credibility of scientific research is that the research has been conducted according to the Finnish Code of Conduct for Research Integrity by the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK. According to the guideline, research integrity includes, among other things, ethically sustainable data acquisition, research and evaluation methods that comply with the criteria of scientific research and storing the research data in a manner that meets the requirements for scientific data. When promoting open RDI activities and opening the RDI data, HAMK commits to the research ethics and legal principles. Depending on the data, HAMK’s RDI data is as open as possible, but as closed as necessary.
HAMK is committed to complying with the guidelines issued by the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK entitled “The Finnish Code of Conduct for Research Integrity and Procedures for Handling Alleged Violations of Research Integrity in Finland“. Based on it, HAMK’s Code of Conduct for ensuring responsible conduct of research and handling alleged violations of research integrity at Häme University of Applied Sciences has been confirmed on 28.3.2023.
TENK has prepared a notification form for an alleged research integrity violation. The structured form guides the notifier to provide the most relevant information for the RI process and to justify their doubts based on the criteria given in the RI guidelines. The notification of alleged RI violation is to be sent directly to the head of the organisation concerned, not TENK.
Medical and other research involving human beings is regulated and instructed in detail. Typically, if the research targets to members of organisations or people related to organisations’ activities, both the research participants’ consent to participate in the research and a separate research permit from the organisations is required.
In 2019, TENK renewed and updated its national guidelines The ethical principles of research with human participants and ethical review in the human sciences in Finland. Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK guidelines 2019 (PDF). If the research project fulfils even one of the ethical review criteria of TENK’s guidelines, the ethical review of HAMK research is carried out by The Human Sciences Ethics Committee of the Helsinki Region Universities of Applied Sciences.
HAMK is a member of the Human Sciences Ethics Committee of the Helsinki Region Universities of Applied Sciences together with Metropolia, Arcada, Laurea, Diak and Humak. HAMK’s representative in the committee is Raija Koskinen and the deputy is Telle Hailikari.
More information about the duties and activities of the ethics committee can be found on the committee’s website.
HAMK’s research integrity advisers are Janne Salminen and Auli Harju. The tasks of a research integrity adviser include:
- To promote research integrity and responsible conduct of research
- To raise awareness of TENK’s guidelines and activities and the RI process
- To provide low-threshold advice and support to the researchers and other staff in their organisation
- To give neutral advice on the RI process when RI violation is suspected
- To provide technical assistance in drafting notifications of alleged RI violations, if necessary
- To advise and support the parties involved in an RI process.
TENK’s 2024 RIA guidelines for organisations and research integrity advisers
The website of the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK provides detailed information on research integrity.