Below is a rough guide to application procedures. Please contact the CIRRAU data management team if you are unsure of the correct application procedure (contact information). Alternatively contact Aarhus University Data Protection Department in case of more fundamental uncertainties or queries regarding the Danish data legislation (contact information).
!! Note that each of the following authorities has a processing time of several weeks to a few months, so it may take several months before you can access data.
Every time you want to initiate a register-based research project, you need to register the project at your institution.
Aarhus University holds a record of all ongoing research projects that include personal data. Registration on the record is required in order to 1) keep control of data analyses carried out and 2) ensure openness regarding ongoing studies.
You need to notify AU of new projects, project extensions, data transfer etc. Only project controllers employed at AU can registrate projects on the AU record. Use the link to the right to access guidelines for registration and registration form. The form includes among others:
All Aarhus University research projects that include personal data need to be registered on the university's record. Guidelines for registration and registration forms are presented on the AU staff webpage (see link below).
If you need more inspiration to fill out the form please see: "Skabelon til udfyldelse af anmeldelsesskema til Fortegnelsen".
Either the Regional Research Ethics Committee or the National Committee on Health Research Ethics needs to be notified of any health research projects and give their permission before the study may be initiated. This means that if you plan to carry out a research project based on both register data and data from biological samples (e.g. genetic data), you have to notify one of the committees.
In short, a health research project is one that includes studies on
- Live-born human individuals
- Human gametes intended for fertilization, fertilized human eggs, zygotes and fetuses
- Tissue, cells and gametes from humans, fetuses etc.
- Deceased individuals
Also included are clinical experiments involving medications and clinical experiments involving testing of medical equipment. Note that health research projects include studies within traditional health-related research as well as research concerned with social medicine and epidemiology. In addition, health research projects also include studies on psychiatric and clinical-psychiatric disorders, odontological and pharmaceutical research projects.
Applications for projects administered at Aarhus University, Aarhus, should normally be submitted to the Regional Research Ethics Committee in the Central Denmark Region. If you plan to use genomic data or data from imaging diagnostics, you may have to apply to the National Committee on Health Research Ethics. The links will guide you to the committees guidelines for applications. Both the Regional and the National Ethics Committee uses the same application form.
If you want to include data from Sundhedsdatastyrelsen (SDS), you can apply and purchase data extracts directly from SDS and have them sent to Statistics Denmark to be placed in your project folder. There, you may combine the data extracts with data from other sources, e.g. socioeconomic data from Statistics Denmark or cohort data collected by your own research group. An overview of registers and documentation in danish is available on the SDS webside.
Prescription data
A version of the Register of Medicinal Product Statistics is managed by Statistics Denmark on behalf of Sundhedsdatastyrelsen. Part of the data are included in 'Projektdatabase CIRRAU', and they will be available to you on the condition that you obtain permission from Sundhedsdatastyrelsen to use them in your study. An application for such a permission should be sent to Sundhedsdatastyrelsen (see text box to the right).
Applications for use of health-related data from Sundhedsdatastyrelsen (SDS) consists of three documents – a project description, a description of the data extraction and an order form. On the SDS website you can access an application guide written in danish.
The documents should be uploaded using the electronic application form on the webpage of SDS. Furthermore you need to supply documentation of your registration on Aarhus University's record of research projects, payment information etc. (see more using the link below).