Managing research data when holding multiple positions

Other employment at a public employer

You do not automatically have the right to transfer data you need to access, for example in your capacity as a healthcare professional in a healthcare region, to your research at the University. Naturally, the same restriction also applies in the opposite direction.

If, in addition to your employment at Umeå University, you have another public employer, such as a government agency, healthcare region or municipality, you must request permission to access the data from your other employer before using it in your research at Umeå University. This even applies if you were involved in collecting the information or have access to it.

Follow the releasing organisation’s processes for releasing public documents. You may not administer both the request and the release of documents.

Research data collected by another public organisation may be subject to secrecy in that organisation. When the data is released to Umeå University, it may be subject to secrecy at Umeå University or your other employer may release the data to the University with what is known as transferred secrecy. If you are unsure whether the data you have received is covered by transferred secrecy, you should check this with the person who released the data.

Other employment with a private employer

When accessing research data from a private employer, such as a company, an agreement between the University and the other employer needs to define how you may use this data. As an employee, you are not a party in this agreement. Umeå University always needs to consider rules regarding public access and secrecy, and archiving of public documents.

Umeå University can never guarantee more confidentiality than the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act allows. When assessing a possible disclosure, Umeå University is the party that makes the assessment of whether the data can be disclosed or whether it is subject to secrecy. The company’s wish for the information to be kept confidential is part of that assessment. As such, it is good to be clear what data from the company you will share with Umeå University and what data the company considers confidential.

Read more in the brochure Research collaboration with Umeå University, which is intended for companies and other private organisations.

Associated or affiliated with the University

An association or affiliation with Umeå University does not mean that you are considered employed by the University. For you to be able to access research data that is a public document at Umeå University, the University must conduct a secrecy examination before the information is disclosed. Disclosure is considered to your employer, not to you.

If you are employed by a company or other private organisation, Umeå University may need to agree to a secrecy clause and possibly sign an agreement with your employer before you may access the information.

Research data in ethically approved research

If the research being conducted requires ethical approval, you must ensure that all research parties are covered by the ethical approval if you want to be able to share the research data between Umeå University and your other employer. For example, if you are employed at both Umeå University and a healthcare region, you may not use data collected at the University in your work at the region unless doing so is included in the ethical approval and a secrecy examination has concluded that the data may be disclosed.

If the healthcare region only releases data to Umeå University and does not otherwise participate in the research project, the region does not need to be covered by the ethical approval.

Read more about sharing research data in ethically approved research

Secure management of research data

You need to ensure that you manage and store research data securely.

Read more about information classification

Read more about how to protect your information