Privacy statement for research data register
1 Joint controller and contact person
Name: Academic Engineers and Architects in Finland and Tekniikan Akateemisten Liitto TEK ry
Address: Ratavartijankatu 2
FI-00520 Helsinki, Finland
Telephone: +358 09 2291 2291
Business ID: 0117014-0, 0201522-2
TEK is an association formed by two unions and therefore some of the functions (and units) are legally divided between Academic Engineers and Architects in Finland TEK and Tekniikan Akateemiset ry. TEK’s private members are members of Academic Engineers and Architects in Finland.
Contact person: Susanna Bairoh
E-mail address: susanna.bairoh@tek.fi
2 Data protection officer
3 Data subjects
This register contains personal data of members, potential members, former members, stakeholder representatives and personnel of Academic Engineers and Architects in Finland and Tekniikan Akateemisten Liitto ry (hereinafter “Organisation”).
4 The purpose and legal ground for processing personal data
Research at TEK produces high quality information that is widely used by stakeholders for the benefit of TEK’s members. TEK’s research activities provide up-to-date information to different stakeholders (internal and external), coordinate information needs and data production and support the implementation and development of TEK’s activies.
The purpose of processing personal data is to implement and support the abovementioned activities by way of research and reports targeted at the Organisation’s members, potential members, stakeholders and personnel. The goals of each study are defined separately and any potential respondents are informed on them. TEK’s research function conducts both surveys that include personal data and ones that are anonymous. This description of the scientific research data file relates to the surveys containing personal data (i.e. non-anonymous surveys).
The legal ground for the processing of personal data is consent collected from the data subjects.
5 Content of the register
Only such background information will be collected that is relevant to reaching the goal of the study. The selected information, based on the goal, will be requested via the questionnaire or accessed via the membership register with the member’s consent.
The Organisation processes the following personal data of their members, former and potential members, stakeholder representatives and the Organisation’s personnel:
- membership number
- contact details
- birth year or age group
- gender
- nationality (grouped: Finland, other EU/EAA member state, other)
- education information
- employment information
- membership and positions of trust in TEK or organisations significant to the Organisation
If the data subject’s contact details are collected in order to hold a raffle for prizes, the information will be collected and processed separately.
6 Regular sources of information
Personal data will only be collected directly from the data subjects.
7 Regular destinations of disclosed data
TEK gathers survey data via web-based survey tools (Surveypal, LimeSurvey).
Personal data (i.e. lists of e-mail addresses) can be disclosed to third parties only if the survey is purchased as a service from an external entity. In such an event, the lists will be delivered in an encrypted format and the third party is obligated to erase them after the survey is finished.
If research data is disclosed to an external party for scientific research (e.g. theses) it will be anonymised. A separate permission will be required for obtaining TEK’s data. This permission obligates its receiver to abide by the ethical principles of research activity and guidelines of the Finnish Social Science Data Archive.
8 Transfer of data out the EU or the EEA
The data will not be disclosed outside the EU or the EEA.
9 Storing period
The researcher conducting the study will handle all data confidentially on their own encrypted workstation or secured cloud service.
The researcher responsible for conducting the study will ensure that the personal data is erased by performing the following actions:
a) The separate list of the target group used to send out the invitation to participate will be destroyed immediately after the data collecting phase is finished.
b) Participation in a survey’s target group will be marked to the membership register in order to keep the amount of invitations to individual members reasonable. Participation in a qualitative study will not be marked in the membership register.
c) The information collected separately for the possible raffle will be erased immediately after the raffle is held and the prizes have been delivered.
d) When survey data is prepared for final storing, it will be pseudonymised (member ID is replaced with a randomly generated number) and other strong identifiers are erased. Background information will be modified in a mutually agreed upon manner.
e) Qualitative data will be anonymized and strong identifiers are erased. Recordings are destroyed.
f) The data will be processed for final storing at the latest 6 months after the study is conducted. At this point, the data will also be erased from the survey tool and/or analysis tool unless it has been anonymized.
g) In qualitative studies, the informant and the researcher will sign a consent form which is stored for 5 years after the study has been conducted.
Pseudonomised/anonymized data can be used also in other TEK studies.
Data that has been prepared in the abovementioned manner can be used for scientific purposes according to the stipulations of the Terms of use document. Terms of use, among other things, obligate the receiver to abide by the ethical principles of research activity and guidelines of the Finnish Social Science Data Archive.
10 Data subjects' rights
Responding to questionnaires is always voluntary. The data subjects’ have the right to object to a) receiving invitations to participate in TEK’s research and b) receiving invitations to participate in research conducted by TEK’s partners.
In addition, the data subjects have the right at any time and in accordance the relevant legislation to:
- be informed on the processing of their personal data;
- have access to their personal information and verify the correctness of the data concerning them and processed by the Organisation;
- demand rectification of any inaccurate or incorrect information and to have incomplete data completed;
- demand the erasure of their data;
- withdraw their consent and object to the processing of their personal to the extent that the processing is legally based on the data subject’s consent;
- receive their information in a machine-readable format and have the right to transmit those data to another controller, providing that the data subject has provided the information to the Organisation themselves, the Organisation is processing the information based on the data subject’s consent and the processing is conducted automatically; and
- demand restricting the processing of their personal data.
The data subject must request the implementation of the abovementioned right via the means provided in this description’s Contact section. The Organisation has the right to request the data subject to specify their request in writing and to verify the identity of the data subject prior to processing the request. The Organisation can reject the requests on grounds provided in relevant legislation.
11 Right to lodge a complaint to the supervisory authority
The data subjects have the right to lodge a complaint to the relevant supervisory authority, or to the supervisory authority of the EU member state where their place of residence or work is located, should the data subject deem that the Organisation has not processed their data in accordance with relevant legislation.
12 Data protection
The information collected for research purposes will not be stored in any non-digital form. Personal data that is processed digitally is secured; it is saved to the Organisation’s information system, and access to that system is given only to personnel who need access to do their work. These persons use personal user IDs and passwords.
All personal data sent outside the Organisation is encrypted. All workstations and data devices used by the Organisation are encrypted.
13 Contact
Requests concerning the usage of data subjects’ rights, questions on this description and other matters must be made via e-mail to the Data Protection Officer. A data subject may also contact the Organisation in person or in writing at the following address:
Tekniikan Akateemisten Liitto TEK ry
Susanna Bairoh
Ratavartijankatu 2, FI-00520 Helsinki, Finland
14 Amendments to this privacy statement
This privacy statement can be updated, for example if the relevant legislation is amended. This description was last updated on 14 April 2021.