Strengthens the work on privacy

"Privacy is of great importance to OsloMet. We are committed to safely handling large amounts of personal information about our students and employees. In addition, much of OsloMet's research is based on personal data. To further our work in this area, we are now developing the way we work," explains Tanja Storsul, Pro-rector research and development, and Vigdis By Kampenes, Director of Division Organization and Infrastructure

OsloMet is appointing a specialist responsible for privacy and an external data protection officer. The privacy network at OsloMet will also be further developed. In addition, the university plans to expand a contract for privacy services.

Specialist responsible for privacy

Julie Dessen starts in the newly created position as a specialist responsible for privacy on September 2nd.

Picture of Julie Dessen.
As a specialist responsible for privacy, Dessen will be a driving force for the privacy work at OsloMet. The position includes both the overall strategic responsibility and at the same time responsibility for the operational work with privacy at the university.

"We are pleased that Julie Dessen has accepted the position. She is a lawyer and has specialized in labor law and privacy. As a specialist responsible for privacy, Dessen will collaborate widely across the organization and report the status of privacy to the university's management," Kampenes explains.

Dessen comes from the position as a legal adviser in the firm Septer.

Until Dessen is in place, the Chief Security Officer at OsloMet, Kine Bylterud, is the contact person for privacy matters (oslomet.no).

Network development

Many at OsloMet are involved in the work with security and privacy. To ensure continued good competence building and learning in the organization, these networks will be further developed.

As a specialist responsible for privacy, Dessen will work closely with other security resources and local privacy contacts at OsloMet. She will lead the privacy network in the organization and have close dialogue with the privacy contacts to contribute to, and support them in, their work.

In addition, other networks will also contribute to competence building in this area. This applies among others in the Research and Development area (R&D), where the network of R&D advisors is further developed.

External data protection officer

OsloMet is now getting an external data protection officer through Sikt - Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research. The data protection officer can assist individuals - employees, students, guest researchers, guests and respondents or informants in research projects, who believe that OsloMet is handling their personal data in an unlawful or illegitimate manner. The data protection officer has an independent role and is not subject to management's authority.

"Like many other businesses in our sector, we are now buying this service from Sikt. With an external data protection officer, we can achieve a clearer distribution of roles between the ombuds function and the strategic and operational responsibility, and the independence will be strengthened," says Storsul.

The scheme will be evaluated after a period of use.

Contact information for the Data Protection Officer can be found on this topic page.

Advisory services for research

OsloMet uses Sikt's advisory services for research projects. This is a service where researchers and students get help to find solutions that fit the project, and which ensure that the treatment of privacy is in line with the regulations.

Sikt has further developed its services and now offers more tailored advice. OsloMet will take advantage of this. The university is in dialogue with Sikt about an extended agreement for Data protection services, based on an agreement that has been negotiated for Norwegian research and educational institutions (sikt.no). More information about this will come.

(This article is translated by using Sikt KI-chat)