Privacy Statement

Privacy statement: ReGlobe Research Group - The Geopolitics of Europe-China Technological Decoupling 

Date: 1 June 2024 

The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (hereinafter: "VU") attaches great importance to the protection of your privacy and the security of your personal data. In this privacy statement we, the ReGlobe research group, describe how we handle your personal data. Reglobe esearch group on (re)globalization and emergent decoupling is based at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at VU Amsterdam. The project The Geopolitics of Europe-China Technological Decoupling is financed by a Vidi grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO, VI.Vidi.221R.038) and led by the principal investigator prof dr Naná de Graaff. We process your personal data in accordance with applicable privacy legislation, including the General Data Protection Act (hereinafter: "GDPR") and the General Data Protection Implementation Act. 

1. Who is responsible for the processing of my personal data? 

Stichting VU is responsible for the data processing operations described in this privacy statement. Stichting VU maintains the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam as a privately run university in accordance with the Higher Education and Research Act of The Netherlands (‘Wet op het hoger onderwijs en wetenschappelijk onderzoek’). Stichting VU has its registered office at De Boelelaan 1105 in (1081 HV) Amsterdam and is registered with the Chamber of Commerce under number 53815211. 

2. What (categories of) personal data will be processed? 

We may process the following personal data (if applicable): 

1. Name; 

2. Company details; 

3. Sex; 

4. Education; 

5. Previous and current professional affiliations; 

6. Completed questionnaires; 

7. Transcripts or recordings of interviews. 

3. For which purposes are my personal data processed, and on the basis of which legal grounds? 

The personal data will only be used for the following purposes: 

1. Academic publications; 

2. Spin-offs from the academic research like academic blogposts and policy briefs; 

We process your personal data on the basis of the following legal grounds: 

3. The processing is necessary for the purpose of pursuing our legitimate interests (art.6.1f GDPR). These legitimate interests consist of the fact that we a. use the data for academic / research-based publications only (and not for commercial or media use), b. only use personal data that has been published / is publicly accessible, c. use personal data that pertains to persons with highly public profiles (e.g. politicians, business leaders, policy makers) the analysis of which would be meaningless if the personal data was not processed. 

4. OR - You have given consent to the processing of your personal data. In that case you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us via the contact details below. If you complete an interview and later decide that you do not want your responses included in the analysis, please make sure to submit a request to delete your data within two months following the interview. This will allow the data to be deleted before it is integrated into a larger dataset for analysis. 

4. Who has access to my personal data? 

The personal data will only be accessed by core members of the ReGlobe Research Group for the abovementioned purposes, and for whom it is necessary that they have access to the personal data. 

5. Will my personal data be shared with third parties? 

When processing your personal data, we may use service providers (processors) who process your personal data on behalf of and under the responsibility of the VU. The VU concludes processing agreements with these service providers to ensure that your personal data is processed carefully, securely and in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We remain solely responsible for these processing activities. 

Your personal data will not be shared with other parties. Should this be the case at any time, we will inform you of this. We only disclose personal data to third parties to the extent permitted by privacy law, for example because you have given your prior consent or we are legally obliged to do so.  

6. Will my personal data be transferred to countries outside of the European Economic Area? 

No, your personal data will not be transferred to international organisations or countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA). The EEA includes all EU countries plus Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland. Transfers of personal data between these countries are not subject to additional rules under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). 

7. For how long will my personal data be retained? 

We will not retain your personal data for longer than is necessary to achieve the predetermined purposes or as long as required by law.  

Categories of personal data 

Retention period 

All relevant categories described above  

Minimum of 10 years after publishing 

8. 
   How will my personal data be secured? 

The VU takes appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal data against loss and any form of unlawful processing. For our data assets we choose the storage option with the highest security classification, Yoda, and encrypted on an external storage device in line with the ethical guidelines and data protection rules of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Only team members that are part of the core team and employed at the VU (the PI, the postdoc and PhD) will have access to this stored data. 

9. Who can I contact with questions about the processing of my personal data? 

You can ask questions about how we process your personal data via n.a.de.graaff@vu.nl. 

10. How can I exercise my privacy rights? 

On the basis of the GDPR you have the right – under certain conditions – to access your personal data that we process, to correct your personal data if it contains factual inaccuracies, to delete your personal data, to limit the processing of your personal data, to portability of your personal data and to object to the processing of your personal data. 

If you wish to exercise any of these privacy rights, you can contact the Data Protection Officer of VU Amsterdam via: 

Data Protection Officer 

De Boelelaan 1105 

1081 HV AMSTERDAM  

functionarisgegevensbescherming@vu.nl