Data protection, ethics and integrity
Data Protection
GDPR
If you work with personal or special category data then you must comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) as well as the Data Protection Act 2018.
You should read and follow the University’s Data Protection Policy as well as completing the online data protection course every 2 years.
Protecting the rights and privacy of research participants is fundamental to research culture at the University. There must generally be a lawful basis to process personal data for use in research, this also includes processing publicly available data. If you are processing special category data you will generally need an additional condition for processing this type of data.
It is important to note that most research undertaken at the University will be subject to one of two exemptions:
- The Research purposes exemption
- The Academic expression exemption
These exemptions can partially, or almost completely exempt research data from data protection requirements. It is also important to note that in addition to data protection requirements, researchers must also ensure that they remain compliant with the University’s expectations for research ethics.
Research Ethics
All researchers conducting research involving human participants or personal data as the subject of research should consider the ethical implications of their work and follow the University of Cambridge Policy on the Ethics of Research Involving Human Participants and Personal Data.
It is recognised that the approach to research ethics may vary across disciplines. There is University guidance on Research Ethics.
Many research projects carried out at the University of Cambridge will not involve ethical issues, whereas some may raise significant ethical questions. Where more than minimal ethical risk is identified, independent ethical review must be carried out prior to commencing the research work.
Where necessary, researchers should seek appropriate ethics advice from either:
- Local Research Ethics Committee (REC)
- Departmental ethics contact
- Head of Department
- Appropriate School-level REC
Learn more about the training courses available for Research Ethics.
Research Integrity
All researchers at the University should be aware of and follow the principles of the Research Integrity Concordat as well as the University of Cambridge’s information and guidelines on Good Research Practice.