Like other academic institutions, the VUB processes personal data. This included the EmSlab at ETRO at VUB. The EmSlab at VUB is committed to protecting personal data and handling it with the utmost care to safeguard the privacy of those concerned. In this privacy statement you can read more about our guidelines for handling personal data, about questions and services you may request from us, and about our point of contact for further information regarding privacy and data protection at the EmSlab at VUB.
Which personal data is processed and why
Personal data the EmSlab at VUB processes
The EmSlab at VUB is responsible for processing some personal data related to the courses organised by EmSlab at VUB. We process this data either to fulfil the legal requirements necessary to provide education and perform research, or in order to improve our services as a university lab.
The purposes for which it is processed
• Providing education
Keeping records on student affairs following the courses, managing internal and external information flows; registering study results; being able to provide advice, guidance, and counselling; etc.
• Performing academic research:
The researchers affiliated with the EmSlab at VUB gather, analyse, and manage large quantities of data, necessary for the advancement of the scientific disciplines represented at the University. Many of the activities carried out by researchers involve processing personal data.
• Strategy, business administration, policy and management
Keeping records on the financial affairs of (parts of) the EmSlab at VUB, managing IT-, purchase and payment systems, litigating on behalf of the EmSlab at VUB; managing contacts and contracts with suppliers, clients, consumers, suppliers, business partners; ensuring the wellbeing of students, staff and visitors, being able to improve policy, organizational analysis, management, and dispute resolution etc.
• Facility management
Ensuring the health and safety of students, staff and visitors; ensuring accessibility and maintenance of the room allocated to EmSlab and of (automated) systems; providing appropriate security measures and supervision; maintaining contacts with facility management services at VUB etc.
• Valorisation, outreach, marketing and communication
Recruitment of prospective MaThesis and PhD students; performing market research; improving public and customer relations; improving marketing and branding of the EmSlab at VUB; managing and improving our website, libraries, library systems, archival services etc.
All these various types of data will be treated with the utmost care; none will be freely accessible. Employees of the EmSlab at VUB and persons acting on behalf of the EmSlab at VUB who work with such data will only be authorised to do so to the extent necessary for the performance of their duties. Additionally, the EmSlab at VUB is continuously committed to maintaining the proper technical and organizational safeguards about information security and data protection.
Categories of personal data processed by the EmSlab at VUB
Because the EmSlab at VUB performs activities in all the areas listed, a lot of personal data is gathered and stored. Considering these activities, it is possible that the EmSlab at VUB processes the following categories of personal data:
• Name
• Address
• Place of Birth
• Telephone number
• Date of Birth
• Sex/Gender
• Email-address
• Information regarding user interaction (e.g. IP address, cookies, clicking behaviour, information from contact forms etc.)
• Images (photos and videos)
• Information regarding choice of study programme, study progress and study results
• Data gathered in the context of academic research
In principle, the personal data processed by the EmSlab at VUB has been disclosed to the EmSlab at VUB directly. However, it may also be the case that the EmSlab at VUB receives personal data from third parties. We often collaborate with universities, research centres and (international) organisations and companies located abroad, both inside and outside the EU. Within the scope of such collaborative projects, it is possible for personal data to be disclosed to these third parties: naturally, this will always happen in compliance with all relevant privacy and data protection laws and regulations and the EmSlab at VUB will always strive for the shortest possible retention period of relevant data.
Provision of data to third parties
The EmSlab at VUB will not exchange personal data with third parties for financial gain. Personal data that allows for a third party to trace an individual person will only be supplied to a third party when this is required by law; when this is necessary for the fulfilment of a contract with the data subject; or when the data subject has given his or her explicit, informed consent to the transfer of the data. Preparing and awarding a degree is an example of transferring data to a third party: the Flemish government sets the requirements necessary for graduation and certification and in this context the EmSlab at VUB has an obligation to transmit personal data concerning graduation to the government via VUB.
The EmSlab at VUB can instruct third parties to perform services for it, in which case the EmSlab at VUB will draw up an agreement in which it lays down the duties of the service provider with regard to the processing of personal data (a so-called "data processor agreement”). In this contract it is stipulated that the third party will handle any disclosed personal data confidentially, carefully, and in compliance with privacy legislation. Aside from the situations that have been specifically mentioned above, the EmSlab at VUB will not disclose personal data to third parties, unless required to do so by law.
Subjects’ rights about their personal data
On May 25th 2018, the "General Data Protection Regulation" took effect. The GDPR is a European regulation which grants individuals rights with respect to the way their personal data is handled and protected. Individuals may, for example - depending on the legal basis for the processing of their personal data and dependent on the fulfilment of certain conditions - exercise a right to:
inquire as to what personal data is processed and, when the data is provided to the EmSlab at VUB by a third party, inquire into the source of this information;
request the correction of data insofar as it is incorrect;
• Object to the processing of his or her data;
• Know of the existence of possible automated decision making processes, and, when these are used to create profiles, inquire into the logic underlying these processes, the purposes they serve, and their consequences;
• ‘Be forgotten’ by an institution that has processed their personal data.
The competent national authority concerning privacy and data protection is the Commission for the Protection of Privacy (or CBPL: “Commissie voor de bescherming van de persoonlijke levenssfeer”). This is the authority that monitors privacy law compliance and where any individual can file a complaint regarding privacy and the processing of personal data.
Further questions regarding the different rights and obligations in the field of privacy can be directed to EmSlab at VUB’s Data Protection Officer (DPO) via dpo@ems2.be .