How the CoLaus | PsyCoLaus study shares data while ensuring privacy

While data sharing is important in an international research setting, ensuring the privacy of participants is just as important. For several years, the CoLaus | PsyCoLaus study has been sharing data with national and international research teams while ensuring that no breach of privacy regarding the participants occurs. A series of procedures have been put in place, including checking the research protocol, data encryption, and legally binding agreements. The original data are also distributed between sites and informatics systems, thus making re-identification of the participants difficult. These procedures allow a high level of security, and the participants are guaranteed that no data leakage will occur.