Informed consent templates
A privacy summary page
Below we have a number of different templates available, depending on the type of research and whether you are processing personal data. You are required by law (see website Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens) to properly inform people when processing their personal data. The templates for the processing of personal data contain an appendix with a summary page for a quick overview, and a more exhaustive part that explains the processing in more detail. Please adapt these parts where necessary to suit your specific research project. For straightforward projects with anonymous data collection, or projects where only minimal processing of personal data is involved, the two-page information summary template can be filled in and used.
More information about drafting informed consent forms.
Choosing the correct kind of Informed Consent
The correct kind of informed consent depends on the data you collect (anonymous or personal), whether the data contain special categories, and whether you are a researcher or a student. The starting point is ethical consent from participants, with possibly additional consent for the processing of personal data.
| Type of data | Type of consent | GDPR Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Anonymous | Ethical | Not applicable |
| Personal data | Ethical | Public interest (students must use consent) |
| Special categories of personal data | Ethical & for processing of special categories | Public interest |
Anonymous research means that data will be collected anonymously, and you have no way of identifying the participants in the dataset, right from the very beginning. If you initially collect any identifying personal data, you will need the forms for non-anonymous data collection.
You will need additional consent when processing special categories of personal data (i.e. ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, and the processing of genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation). This form contains additional fields for the participants name and signature.
There are also templates available for when you need to acquire parental consent.
When you plan on conducting research within a specific institution (such as a school), you must seek the cooperation of its management. To make an informed decision, the institution’s management needs to understand the design of your research along with various practical considerations. Concerning the processing of personal data, you must deal with the individual participants or their parents/guardians, not the institution. Therefore, this is a statement of agreement for management, rather than a declaration of consent.
Please note: Besides this information letter, you must also prepare a separate information letter for the participants.
Please contact the privacy officer if there are issues with downloading or using the templates. Some versions of Microsoft Edge seem to have issues with the download links.