A single question can change the direction of an entire faculty

Over the past year, the Academic Council has addressed, among other things, the Master’s degree reform, dilemmas related to partnership agreements with industry, faculty research evaluations, salaries for research year students—which have been stagnant for as long as we can remember—and the organisation of our core facilities.

We move from the challenges that can trip up researchers in their daily work to the big decisions that shape our development as a faculty—and sometimes a single case can actually cover that entire spectrum.

This spring, Assistant Professor Andreas Breenfeldt Andersen from the Department of Public Health brought a specific problem to the Academic Council: As a researcher, can he show a graph with a few selected data points without violating GDPR?

From a research perspective, interpretations of GDPR sometimes run counter to common sense, and in Denmark, it often seems that we have adopted the most restrictive approach of all.

It may feel like an unnecessary burden for the individual researcher, but the Danish implementation of GDPR is linked to the unique access to health data that often allows researchers in Denmark to process personal data without first obtaining consent.

But regardless of whether a rule is well-founded or not, we need to know exactly when and how it applies. Creating that clarity is the responsibility of the Danish Data Protection Agency, but unfortunately, we still encounter problems in several cases.

For Andreas, the case was specifically about publishing a single graph. For the faculty, it was about our ability to publish data that are crucial for conducting high-quality health research.

The question set a longer process in motion. I took the matter to the university management, and we then brought it into Universities Denmark, where AU, together with colleagues from other universities and the Danish Regions, has entered into dialogue with the Data Protection Agency to ensure relevant frameworks for publishing research results.

Since then, we have invited experts from AU’s Research Data Office to the council, who have helped us move forward in addressing our local challenges.

It is precisely in the intersection between the immediate problems and the long-term strategic lines that the Academic Council makes a difference. When we meet, things are both spoken out loud and taken further, so they are addressed in the right forums and translated into action.

I greatly appreciate the energy the members put into the council. Their sharp questions and honest sparring are invaluable to me and the rest of the Dean’s Office—and they strengthen us as a faculty.

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