Personal data in student projects – an overview for students

Personal data in student projects – overview

What is this page about?

This page provides an overview of how personal data should be handled in student projects at Mid Sweden University, for example in essays, degree projects and other assignments. The purpose is to help you as a student understand when the rules apply and how student projects with personal data are handled in practice.

For a division of responsibilities and a complete description of how personal data is to be handled, see the Procedure for handling personal data in student projects.

Does personal data have to be processed?

Start by thinking about whether you really need to use personal data in your student work. If the survey can be carried out with the same quality without collecting data that can be linked to a person, it is better to do so. In this case, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) does not apply, which simplifies the work.

Keep in mind that personal data is any information that can be directly or indirectly linked to a living person. This applies not only to names and social security numbers, but also to information that in combination can make it possible to identify someone.

See more information about what is meant by personal data

When do the rules apply?

The rules apply if your student work involves you processing personal data, for example when you:

• conduct interviews or surveys
• Recording audio or video
• observes or describes identifiable persons
• uses personally identifiable material, directly or indirectly;

If the material is completely anonymized and no person can be identified, the GDPR does not apply.

Who is responsible for the personal data?

• for student projects within the programme, Mid Sweden University is the data controller
• The student processes personal data on behalf of the University and in accordance with the instructions given by the department responsible for the course
• internship or clinical placement (VFU), it is normally the internship site that is responsible

Consent – the main rule in student projects

Student projects normally require the consent of all persons whose personal data is processed.

In order for the consent to be valid, the participant must:

• Get clear information about the study
• Voluntarily accept
• be able to withdraw consent at any time
• If consent is withdrawn, the data may no longer be used or stored

Mid Sweden University has templates for information and consent that must be used.

Sensitive and privacy-sensitive personal data

Student projects may only contain sensitive or privacy-sensitive personal data in exceptional cases.

In order for this to be allowed, it is required that:

• treatment is necessary for examination
• The work cannot be carried out in any other way
• The study is conducted under ethically acceptable conditions
• The responsible department has made an assessment before the work begins

Student projects in research projects

If your student project is part of a research project , the project's rules for personal data processing apply then;

• the same legal basis as the research project is used
• All data processing takes place within the project's secure system
• the principal researcher is responsible for the processing of personal data

 
Practical advice

Here are some simple starting points when working with personal data:

• Collect only the data you really need.
• Avoid personal identity numbers and sensitive information unless it is necessary for the examination.
• Use coding or remove names as early as possible in the work.
• Save and manage material in Mid Sweden University's systems – not in private cloud services, apps or external storage media.
• restrict access to the materials.
• delete personal data when it is no longer needed for the examination.

Tools to use

• if you are going to conduct a survey, it is recommended that you use the MIUN Survey tool, you can find information about the tool among software
• when you save personal data, it must be done on MIUN's storage area.
• if you need to transcribe your audio file (at a more advanced level), there is the option to use Sunet scribe, you can find information about the tool among software
• if you are going to conduct digital interviews, it is recommended that you use Zoom with encryption. To access the feature, you must be logged in to your Zoom account at MIUN. For more information, see this guide.

When should you get help?

Contact your supervisor or department if you are unsure about:

• whether data is considered personal data
• whether consent is required or can be used
• whether sensitive data may be present
• If necessary, you can also contact the Data Protection Officer:
  dataskyddsombud@miun.se