2021, Hallinan, Dara, Bernier, Alexander, Cambon-Thomsen, Anne, Crawley, Francis P., Dimitrova, Diana, Bauzer Medeiros, Claudia, Nilsonne, Gustav, Parker, Simon, Pickering, Brian, Rennes, Stéphanie

On 16 July 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union issued their decision in the Schrems II case concerning Facebook's transfers of personal data from the EU to the US. The decision may have significant effects on the legitimate transfer of personal data for health research purposes from the EU. This article aims: (i) to outline the consequences of the Schrems II decision for the sharing of personal data for health research between the EU and third countries, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic; and, (ii) to consider certain options available to address the consequences of the decision and to facilitate international data exchange for health research moving forward.

2021, Vlahou, Antonia, Hallinan, Dara, Apweiler, Rolf, Argiles, Angel, Beige, Joachim, Benigni, Ariela, Bischoff, Rainer, Black, Peter C., Boehm, Franziska, Ceraline, Jocelyn, Chrousos, George P., Delles, Christian, Evenepoel, Pieter, Fridolin, Ivo, Glorieux, Griet, van Gool, Alain J., Heidegger, Isabel, Ioannidis, John P. A., Jankowski, Joachim, Jankowski, Vera, Jeronimo, Carmen, Kamat, Ashish M., Masereeuw, Rosalinde, Mayer, Gert, Mischak, Harald, Ortiz, Alberto, Remuzzi, Giuseppe, Rossing, Peter, Schanstra, Joost P., Schmitz-Draeger, Bernd J., Spasovski, Goce, Staessen, Jan A., Stamatialis, Dimitrios, Stenvinkel, Peter, Wanner, Christoph, Williams, Stephen B., Zannad, Faiez, Zoccali, Carmine, Vanholder, Raymond

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) became binding law in the European Union Member States in 2018, as a step toward harmonizing personal data protection legislation in the European Union. The Regulation governs almost all types of personal data processing, hence, also, those pertaining to biomedical research. The purpose of this article is to highlight the main practical issues related to data and biological sample sharing that biomedical researchers face regularly, and to specify how these are addressed in the context of GDPR, after consulting with ethics/legal experts. We identify areas in which clarifications of the GDPR are needed, particularly those related to consent requirements by study participants. Amendments should target the following: (1) restricting exceptions based on national laws and increasing harmonization, (2) confirming the concept of broad consent, and (3) defining a roadmap for secondary use of data. These changes will be achieved by acknowledged learned societies in the field taking the lead in preparing a document giving guidance for the optimal interpretation of the GDPR, which will be finalized following a period of commenting by a broad multistakeholder audience. In parallel, promoting engagement and education of the public in the relevant issues (such as different consent types or residual risk for re-identification), on both local/national and international levels, is considered critical for advancement. We hope that this article will open this broad discussion involving all major stakeholders, toward optimizing the GDPR and allowing a harmonized transnational research approach.

2021, Anzt, Hartwig, Bach, Felix, Druskat, Stephan, Löffler, Frank, Loewe, Axel, Renard, Bernhard Y., Seemann, Gunnar, Struck, Alexander, Achhammer, Elke, Aggarwal, Piush, Appel, Franziska, Bader, Michael, Brusch, Lutz, Busse, Christian, Chourdakis, Gerasimos, Dabrowski, Piotr Wojciech, Ebert, Peter, Flemisch, Bernd, Friedl, Sven, Fritzsch, Bernadette, Funk, Maximilian D., Gast, Volker, Goth, Florian, Grad, Jean-Noël, Hegewald, Jan, Hermann, Sibylle, Hohmann, Florian, Janosch, Stephan, Kutra, Dominik, Linxweiler, Jan, Muth, Thilo, Peters-Kottig, Wolfgang, Rack, Fabian, Raters, Fabian H. C., Rave, Stephan, Reina, Guido, Reißig, Malte, Ropinski, Timo, Schaarschmidt, Joerg, Seibold, Heidi, Thiele, Jan P., Uekermann, Benjamin, Unger, Stefan, Weeber, Rudolf

Research software has become a central asset in academic research. It optimizes existing and enables new research methods, implements and embeds research knowledge, and constitutes an essential research product in itself. Research software must be sustainable in order to understand, replicate, reproduce, and build upon existing research or conduct new research effectively. In other words, software must be available, discoverable, usable, and adaptable to new needs, both now and in the future. Research software therefore requires an environment that supports sustainability. Hence, a change is needed in the way research software development and maintenance are currently motivated, incentivized, funded, structurally and infrastructurally supported, and legally treated. Failing to do so will threaten the quality and validity of research. In this paper, we identify challenges for research software sustainability in Germany and beyond, in terms of motivation, selection, research software engineering personnel, funding, infrastructure, and legal aspects. Besides researchers, we specifically address political and academic decision-makers to increase awareness of the importance and needs of sustainable research software practices. In particular, we recommend strategies and measures to create an environment for sustainable research software, with the ultimate goal to ensure that software-driven research is valid, reproducible and sustainable, and that software is recognized as a first class citizen in research. This paper is the outcome of two workshops run in Germany in 2019, at deRSE19 - the first International Conference of Research Software Engineers in Germany - and a dedicated DFG-supported follow-up workshop in Berlin.

2022, Elberskirch, Linda, Binder, Kunigunde, Riefler, Norbert, Sofranko, Adriana, Liebing, Julia, Minella, Christian Bonatto, Mädler, Lutz, Razum, Matthias, van Thriel, Christoph, Unfried, Klaus, Schins, Roel P. F., Kraegeloh, Annette

Background: Assessing the safety of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) is an interdisciplinary and complex process producing huge amounts of information and data. To make such data and metadata reusable for researchers, manufacturers, and regulatory authorities, there is an urgent need to record and provide this information in a structured, harmonized, and digitized way. Results: This study aimed to identify appropriate description standards and quality criteria for the special use in nanosafety. There are many existing standards and guidelines designed for collecting data and metadata, ranging from regulatory guidelines to specific databases. Most of them are incomplete or not specifically designed for ENM research. However, by merging the content of several existing standards and guidelines, a basic catalogue of descriptive information and quality criteria was generated. In an iterative process, our interdisciplinary team identified deficits and added missing information into a comprehensive schema. Subsequently, this overview was externally evaluated by a panel of experts during a workshop. This whole process resulted in a minimum information table (MIT), specifying necessary minimum information to be provided along with experimental results on effects of ENMs in the biological context in a flexible and modular manner. The MIT is divided into six modules: general information, material information, biological model information, exposure information, endpoint read out information and analysis and statistics. These modules are further partitioned into module subdivisions serving to include more detailed information. A comparison with existing ontologies, which also aim to electronically collect data and metadata on nanosafety studies, showed that the newly developed MIT exhibits a higher level of detail compared to those existing schemas, making it more usable to prevent gaps in the communication of information. Conclusion: Implementing the requirements of the MIT into e.g., electronic lab notebooks (ELNs) would make the collection of all necessary data and metadata a daily routine and thereby would improve the reproducibility and reusability of experiments. Furthermore, this approach is particularly beneficial regarding the rapidly expanding developments and applications of novel non-animal alternative testing methods.