Ethics & data protection
Handling personal data in accordance with legal regulations and ethical standards is one of the most important areas of research data management. The aim is to ensure that data is used responsibly, keeping harmful impacts to a minimum. In addition to Open Research Data and FAIR data, guidelines such as the CARE principles are crucial to ensure responsibility and trust.
Detailed information on research ethics and compliance at the University of Bern is provided on the Research Management Office website.
For legal advice, please contact the University’s Legal Services Office.
The University’s IT department provides advice on the technical implementation of data protection using storage and other IT resources (contact via e-mail).
The Data Stewards at the Open Science Team support you by advising on how to collect, reuse, process, store, share and publish research data according to best research practice, funding agencies requirements, legal regulations, and ethical standards in Open Science: researchdata@unibe.ch.
Basics in Data Protection
Basics in Data Protection
Research at the University of Bern that involves personal data is subject to the cantonal data protection law. Personal data may be collected for research purposes, but these data must be anonymized as soon as possible. When research is published, individuals must not be identifiable.
In addition to the cantonal law, other laws may apply as well, such as the federal data protection legislation, the federal legislation on research involving human beings, or the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
On the university level, the "Directives on Data Protection in the IT Sector of the University of Bern" must be followed (see here, German only).
A general overview about data protection in Switzerland can be found on the website of the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC). The website forschungsdaten.info provides additional practical information and examples.
For detailed advice, please contact the university’s Legal Services Office.
Information Security and Data Protection (ISDP)
The cantonal data protection act, Art. 17a, stipulates that if you collect, analyze or otherwise process personal data with the help of IT applications (e.g. self-programmed apps, but also applications such as Qualtrics), it may be necessary to develop a concept for handling information security and data protection (ISDP).
For more information and advice, please contact the Legal Services. For IT security at the University of Bern and for help with filling out the relevant forms, please contact the IT services (e-mail).
Ethics: Recommendations and Guidelines
For an initial overview, we suggest you have a look at our Recommendations on Ethics in Research Management
Research concerning human diseases and the structure and function of the human body is subject to the Human Research Act (HRA).
If your project falls under the Human Research Act, it must be reviewed by an ethics committee (e.g. Cantonal Ethics Committee, CEC). Please note that such a review may take approximately 60-90 days. For more information on the procedure, process and management of such projects, please visit the portal on human research in Switzerland HumRes.
For studies at the Insel Hospital, a data governance check is a pre-requisite (see DLF webpage).
If your project does not fall under the Human Research Act, it may be necessary to get approval from the Ethics Committee of your respective faculty at UniBE:
The university’s Research Management Office provides more detailed information on research with humans and research with genetic resources.
For research involving animals, approval by the animal experiment ethics board at SAMS is necessary. The Animal Welfare Office at UniBE offers comprehensive information and individual support. For more information, visit the Research Management Office’s page on research with animals.
A general overview of research ethics regulations and guidelines in Switzerland can be found on forschungsdaten.info.