Privacy Notice For Scientific Research

Information about the processing of your personal data in Ecological Conjunctions: Contemporary Art and Natural Science Collaborations for Civil Society Formation (EcoConjunctions).

In EcoConjunctions research personal data is processed. The purpose of this privacy notice is to provide information about the personal data processed, where the personal data originates and how they are used in the investigation. At the end of the report, we will explain in more detail what rights you have in relation to your personal data.

Participation in the study and the provision of personal data is voluntary and you may at any time, including during the study, suspend your participation. The decision not to participate or suspend participation will not have any negative consequences for you.

1. Description of the research project and why your personal data is needed

We will study art-science collaborations in Finland, Singapore, Indonesia, and Japan to understand how they are created, organized, and received.

Our main goals are to:

  • Explore local and global networks of art-science collaborations.
  • Identify how these collaborations translate, produce, and contribute to scientific knowledge.
  • Understand their societal role and impact.

We want to learn about the intentions, practices, and views of artists, scientists, curators, organizers, audience members, and other participants in these collaborations.

To do so, we will conduct anonymous surveys, interviews, focus group discussions, and participatory observation. All activities will involve only voluntary participants who provide informed consent. 

To offer a more historical and diversified approach, we also use existing data from public art institutions and archives.

The processing of personal data is carried out by three researchers, each focusing on their own geographic area of study: the doctoral researcher collects and processes data on art–science collaborations in Finland; the postdoctoral researcher focuses on Japan; and the Principal Investigator works on both Indonesia and Singapore. 

The data collected will be processed and analyzed solely by members of the research team. Personal data (e.g., names and contact information) collected will be anonymised, kept separate from the research data and coded from the beginning of the project. Personal information will not be included in any publication unless a participant explicitly requests that their art practices, comments, or statements be identified with them or it is needed for verification purposes.

Personal data is processed as part of scientific publications, such as journal articles, edited volumes, and doctoral dissertation at the University of Helsinki. The three researchers of the team are responsible for the day-to-day management of the material, such as anonymising the data, data accuracy, determining the retention periods and using appropriate systems and applications. The risks related to the processing are assessed in cooperation with the Principal Investigator. The University guides and supports the processing of personal data from planning to publishing the final work and provides the necessary infrastructure and tools for carrying out research.

2. Data Controller

University of Helsinki

Address: PL 4 (Yliopistonkatu 3), 00014 University of Helsinki

3. Contact person and principal investigator

Contact person for research issues: 

Name: Dr Minna Valjakka

Faculty/Department/Unit: Faculty of Arts / Department of Cultures / Art History

Address: Po. Box 59, 00014 University of Helsinki

Phone number: +358 2941 23733

Email address:

4. Contact details of the Data Protection Officer

The data protection officer of the University of Helsinki can be contacted via the email address .

5. Personal data included in the research data

No personal data is collected or included into anonymous surveys.

During the interviews, participatory observations, and focus group discussions, personal data collected from voluntary participants include:

  • Direct identifiers of the research subjects, such as names and contact details.
  • Indirect personal data, such as photos of the research subjects (e.g., during an art–science project), language and documentation of the art–science projects, interview responses, voice and video recordings, and observational notes. Occasionally, if inherently related to the art–science project, other indirect identifiers, such as ethnicity, may also be collected
6. Sources of personal data

The personal data collected is primarily obtained from the research subjects themselves with their informed consent. 

In addition, some direct and indirect personal data—such as the names of artists, curators, and scientists, as well as existing documentation of art–science collaborations—are collected from public registers (e.g., library and museum archives), online sources (e.g., websites of art institutions, events, and projects), and occasionally from private collections (e.g., curator’s personal archive).

7. Sensitive personal data (and special categories of personal data)

In this research, the following sensitive personal data are occasionally processed only if they are inherently related to the art-science collaborations: Race or ethnic origin, political opinions; religious or philosophical conviction.

8. Legal basis for the processing of personal data

Personal data is processed on the basis of the following Article 6(1) of the GDPR:

Task carried out in public interest: scientific or historical research or statistics (Article 4(3) of the Data Protection Act)

The processing of sensitive data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation is based on Article 9(2)(j) of the GDPR (processing is necessary for scientific research purposes) and Article 6(1)(7) of the GDPR (Article 9(1) of the GDPR does not apply to data processing for scientific research purposes).

9. Data recipients

Personal data is not transferred to people or organisations outside of the research group. 

10. Transfer of data outside the European Economic Area

Data is not transferred outside the European Economic Area, it is only processed within the EU.

11. Protection of personal data

The personal data contained in the research material is processed and stored in a secure server (Umpio) so that only the three research team members who need them can access the data.

Data processed in information systems are protected by two-step authentication, passwords, access control and data encryption.

Manual material (e.g. surveys filled on paper) will be kept in a locked cabinet in the locked office of the research team to which only the appropriate persons have access to.

Processing of your direct identifications information:

  • Direct identifications are removed at the analysis stage and stored separately from the analysed data.
  • Some of the materials (e.g. artworks, interviews) are analysed with direct identification data because some of the participants (e.g. artists, scientists and curators), wish to be identified and because it is essential for the verification of results to know whose artistic or scientific work was studied.
12. Duration of processing of your personal data

The duration of the research project is four years (1 Sep 2024 – 31 August 2028).  After five years of the end of the research the research data will be erased.

13. Automated decision-making

This research does not carry out automated-decisions that have a significant impact on the research subjects.

14. Your rights and derogations from those rights

In order to exercise the rights listed below, please contact the contact person for the research in section 3 of this Privacy Notice and tell us what rights you wish to exercise.

Your rights as a data subject

We will try to exercise your rights whenever possible. The suitability of your rights is affected, for example, by the legal basis on which your personal data is processed. We always assess the validity of the rights on a case-by-case basis. The contact person for the research will help you to implement your rights and will tell you about their applicability.

Your rights under the GDPR are:

  • to know if your data is being processed,
  • to access your own data,
  • to correct your incorrect and outdated data,
  • to delete your data and be forgotten,
  • to restrict the processing of your personal data,
  • to transfer your data from one controller to another,
  • to object to the processing of your data, and
  • to not to be subject to automated decision-making.

In scientific research, there may be a deviation from a right, for example, if the execution of your right would endanger the entire research. For example, often it may not be possible to delete all of your data afterwards if they are already collected and included in the research, but this does not affect your right to suspend participation in the research.

More information about your rights in different situations can be found on the website of the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman: 

Right to appeal

If you feel that your personal data has been processed incorrectly, you can always contact the data protection officer of the data controller, whose contact details can be found in section 4 of this Privacy Notice.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority, i.e. the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman, if you consider that the processing of your personal data has been in breach of the applicable data protection legislation.

Contact details of the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman:

Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman

Visiting address: Lintulahdenkuja 4, 00530 Helsinki

Postal address: P.O. Box 800, 00531 Helsinki

Switchboard: 029 56 66700

E-mail: tietosuoja(at)om.fi