David Erdos, a member and incoming Deputy Director of CIPIL, has been engaged in a variety of activities during 2016-17 which have been aimed at ensuring that all types of academic research are effectively safeguarded when the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force in May 2018. Much of this work has focused on the governance of humanities and social science scholarship. Other aspects of David’s work have specifically focused on the appropriate regulation of biomedical research within data protection.
Summary of Activities during 2016-17
In November 2016, David posted slides exploring the regulation of biomedical research under European data protection including an analysis of existing laws, Data Protection Authority (DPA) legal interpretations and DPA enforcement activity combined with some pointers to how things might and should evolve in the era of the GDPR. He also presented on “Reconciling Humanities and Social Science Research with Data Protection” at a workshop held at the University of Hong Kong.
In February 2017, David presented more generally on the interface between data protection and University research at a JISC Workshop on the GDPR held at the University of Leeds.
In May 2017, he also helped with the drafting of a joint British Academy/ESRC submission on the British Government’s Call for Views on the implementation of the GDPR in the UK which specifically focused on issues arising for humanities and social science research.
Finally, in June 2017, David spoke on a similar theme at a Full Fabric Workshop on The Impact of the GDPR in Higher Education which took place at Imperial College London as part of London EdTech week. He also spoke and took part in a CSaP Policy Workshop on ʻTransforming consent – legal and ethical aspectsʼ held at Trinity Hall Cambridge, which looked at changing the technical, legal and social context for the mobilisation of the use of personal data in medical research including, in particular, the coming impact of the GDPR.
