Managing confidential research data

Academia Raetica

The online workshop "Managing Confidential Research Data" is designed for researchers working with sensitive and confidential information, such as in life sciences, social sciences, or areas involving trade secrets. It provides an overview of responsible research data management and enables participants to apply best practices in handling confidential data.

This topic is particularly relevant in light of the revised Swiss Data Protection Act (nDSG) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Moreover, research funders such as the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the European Commission increasingly require structured data management and data integrity assurance. A solid understanding of best practices in handling sensitive data is therefore essential not only for compliance with legal and ethical standards but also for successful grant applications and sustainable research collaborations.

Objectives

By the end of the workshop, participants will have:

• Developed an understanding of how to handle confidential research data securely

• Gained the ability to apply best practices in data management, collaboration, and long-term data archiving

• Acquired knowledge of fundamental legal and institutional requirements in research data management

Content

• Secure data management during the research process

• Data publication and long-term preservation, considering FAIR principles and legal requirements

• Data protection, secure collaboration, and data transfer

• Ensuring data quality and reproducibility

Methodology

A combination of theoretical input, interactive discussions, and practice-oriented reflections

Course Materials

Will be made available digitally after the workshop under the CC-BY-NC-SA license

Trainer

Dr. Ana Petrus, scivia GmbH (https://scivia.ch). Founder of scivia LLC, a consultancy specialising in research data management and digital sustainability, and adjunct lecturer in Data Management at the University of Applied Sciences of the Grisons (FHGR). She has built her career at the intersection of higher education, international projects, and cutting-edge challenges in the digital era. With 20 years of expertise in academia and multinational collaborations with both governmental and non-governmental organisations, her work focuses on research data management in STEM and interdisciplinary fields, as well as FAIR principles, open science, and digital sustainability. Dr. Petrus holds a PhD and teaching certificate from ETH Zurich, along with project management certifications from IPMA and the University of Oxford. She serves on the scientific advisory board of the data management portal olos.swiss and is a member of the research data management working group of LIBER, the Association of European Research Libraries.

General information and fee

• Date: Friday, November 21, 1:00 to 5:00 PM

• Online (Participants will receive link per email)

• Lecturer: Dr. Ana Petrus

• Language: English

• Target audience: Researchers at all career levels from member and partner institutions of Academia Raetica

• Course fee for participants from Academia Raetica member or partner institutions: CHF 50.

• External participants (not working at an Academia Raetica member or partner institution): CHF 80

• Registration deadline: November 3, 2025

• Max. number participants: 12 (min. number participants 8)

• Cancellation policy: We ex­pect you to be pre­sent for the full du­ra­ti­on of the cour­se. Please see our Terms of Participation for details.

• Course Coordinator: Daniela Heinen, daniela.heinen@academiaraetica.ch, phone 081 410 60 84

• WORKLOAD: 4 hours

Plea­se check beforehand with your su­per­vi­sor at your uni­ver­si­ty, if the cour­se counts towards ECTS.

• Course certificate: You will receive a certificate of attendance.

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