Professor, PhD., LL.D. Mette Hartlev

Mette Hartlev, PhD, LL.D, is professor of health law at the Faculty of law, University of Copenhagen. Her major research interests include health law, patients’ rights, privacy protection,  bioethics, and science and technology studies. Furthermore, she has also done research in areas such as health and human rights and public health measures. She has published extensively on issues such as patients’ rights, medical privacy, medical research, gene technology, biobanks and stem cell research. Mette Hartlev has participated in several research project funded by the European Union and has been a member of the Danish Council of Ethics (2000 -2005) and the Nordic Committee on Bioethics (2003 - 2007). Since 2010 she is a member of the editorial board of European Journal of Health Law.

Presentation

Protection of personal data and privacy in research

Right to privacy is a fundamental human right which is both protected in human rights and EU-regulation. The importance and societal benefits of research is, however, also acknowledged, and it is generally accepted, that personal data may be used for scientific purposes under certain conditions. The presentation will focus on the major interests and stakeholders in regards to use of personal data for scientific purposes, and will clarify the main legal rules and principles in the area. As privacy issues are highly influenced by the technological development, legal regulation needs to adapt to new technologies. Hence, the presentation will also touch upon the EU-commissions proposal on a new data protection architecture, which aims at bringing the existing data protection regulation up to date with new technological developments.

 Protection of personal data and privacy in research