Data protection in BIPS studies

Adherence to data protection regulations is a top priority for research at BIPS.

It is of particular concern to us to protect the data of our study participants and to treat the information provided in confidence. Personal identifying data of study participants—data that can be used to identify a specific person such as name, address, date of birth, and contact information—are used solely for contacting the study participants. Furthermore, personal identifying data are kept strictly separate from the study data, which are analyzed in the context of the scientific studies conducted at BIPS. Study data are only stored and analyzed using identification numbers (so-called pseudonyms). They never include personal identifying data of the study participants. Therefore, it is not possible to draw any conclusions about individual study participants from the analyses of the study data. We report no results of individual persons or of very small groups. All analyses take place at group level to ensure that no conclusions can be drawn about individual persons from the published data. All BIPS employees are contractually committed to confidentiality and data protection.

The scientific studies conducted at BIPS are subject to supervision by the State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information of the State of Bremen (in German only). The BIPS data protection officer, Dr. Uwe Schläger from datenschutz nord GmbH in Bremen (in German only), monitors compliance with data protection regulations and advises and supports BIPS in fulfilling data protection requirements. The working group on data protection at BIPS, headed by Alexander Knaust, provides scientists with concrete assistance in implementing data protection requirements. BIPS is also represented in the working group on data protection of the Leibniz Association, which regularly facilitates the exchange between scientific research institutes on current data protection-related topics. This further contributes to the adherence to data protection at BIPS. If you have any questions regarding data protection at BIPS, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Knaust.