EdiCitNet Information Sheet

What is EdiCitNet about?
EdiCitNet is a project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 776665. The project implements Edible City Solutions (ECS) The systemic use of urban landscape for food production is a major step towards more sustainable, livable and healthier cities. Social gardening activities empower local communities to overcome social Problems by their inclusive and participatory dynamic, thereby fostering social cohesion. Planting different Food varieties will enhance ecological resilience, while developing technical tools and selling products can create green Jobs and foster local economy. Furthermore, EdiCitNet initiates timely and active participation of society. Hence the co-developed results and findings support the establishment of a global Edible Cities Network.

What are Edible City Solutions?
ECS are all forms of nature-based solutions that include urban food production such as bee-keeping, community gardens or technical solutions like green facades/roofs or indoor farming.

What are the EdiCitNet outcomes?
The network of ECS itself is the main outcome of this project, for communication and exchange of experiences among ECS. Additionally, all data, results and consultancy services are openly accessible at the EdiCitNet toolbox and other communication tools like EdiCitNet website or Twitter. Finally, EdiCitNet empowers residents making their cities increasingly edible thus livable. 

Who is organizing the EdiCitNet project?
A partnership, a consortium of international partners from different sectors: non-governmental organisations, small and medium enterprises, universities, research institutes, municipalities.

The project is coordinated by Humboldt University in Berlin, by its institute “´Integrative Research Institute on Transformations of Human-Environment Systems” (IRI THESys).

Which procedures do we have adopted for ensuring personal data protection/confidentiality/privacy including duration of storage of personal data?
All personal data collected as part of the EdiCitNet project are given protection, are treated as confidential and are anonymized.

• Personal data: ‘personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person^[1].
• Protection: Our data controllers, who determines the purpose and means of the processing of personal data, are in charge of your data, implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to give effect to the GDPR’s core data-protection principles (articles 5 and 25 GDPR).
• Anonymization: involves techniques that can be used to convert personal data into anonymized data without possibilities of re-identification. In general, we are collecting ‘anonymized’ data only: the anonymization happens at the point and time at which the data are collected from you, so that no personal data are actually processed. In case that personal information is collected, the data will be anonymized as early as technically possible. Personal data is then encrypted and stored separately.

Do you have questions related to the project activities or to your rights as a participant in EdiCitNet activities?
If you have questions related to the project activities and the participants’ rights please contact the coordinator of the project: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Dr. Ina Säumel (E-mail: edicitnet-coordinator [at] eurtd [dot] com).

About your Participation:
The expected duration of your participation covers the time period from 1 September 2018 to 31 August 2023. This is the timeframe for running the overall EdiCitNet project and where we would like to involve you in our activities. Your participation in the project is voluntary and you can decide to withdraw your participation from the project activities at any time you wish. You are free to decline to answer any particular question you do not wish to answer for any reason.

You will receive no direct financial benefits from participating in this research study.

What should you do if you wish to withdraw from the project?
Your withdrawal from the project and its activities is possible at all times and with no consequences. If you wish to withdraw, please contact the data controller indicated here below. You can claim any of your personal data to be deleted.

Are there foreseeable risks in taking part in our activities?
No. There are no foreseeable risks involved in participating in this study other than those encountered in day-to-day life.

What happens to the personal data collected during the project after the project is finished?
Should personal data nevertheless be collected with the consent of the participants, these personal data will be kept for a period of 10 years, in case of audits performed by the European Commission, and then will be destroyed by deleting them from our files permanently. Personal data cannot be sent or sold to a third party for further research at any time.

What is the specific purpose(s) of the processing for which your personal data will be used?Your personal data are collected to achieve the EdiCitNet objectives, to create a network of ECS and to measure the Impact of the implementation of ECS at the social, environmental and/or economic level and to fulfill all deliverables and milestones. The main data collection takes place within the implementation of the ECS and during the monitoring period. The purpose of the data collection is to feed these data into the EdiCitNet toolbox and provide data to support EdiCitNet activities and work packages which are the framework of the project.

Will your personal data be used for other purposes than those stated above?
No.

Will your personal data be shared with other partners of the EdiCitNet consortium?
No.

Will your personal data be transferred to organizations outside the EU (see article 13 GDPR)?
No.

Will your personal data be shared with or transferred to third parties and for what purposes?
No.

How long your personal data will be retained before they are destroyed?We keep the personal data we collect only as long as it necessary for the purposes for which they were collected, or in accordance with the established auditing, archiving or retention provisions for our project. After the end of the project the data collector will be kept for a period of 10 years, in case of audits performed by the European Commission, and then will destroyed them, i.e. will delete the data in their entirety and make sure that they cannot be recovered. As with any research project involving human subjects, if the personal data processing entails potential risks to the data subjects’ rights and freedoms, they must be made aware of these risks during the informed consent procedure. Data processing does not entail potential risks to the data subjects’ rights and freedom.

Data publication and long-term archiving
Anonymized data and data without personal information will be archived for the long-term (> 10 years) and published in appropriate data archives/repositories to ensure reproducibility of EdiCitNet research results and to enable further research. Especially data underlying publications will be archived for replication purposes. Data will thus be made available, whilst confidentiality will be protected.

Who is the Data controller?
The data controller determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data. Data controller implements appropriate technical and organizational measures to give effect to the GDPR’s core data-protection principles (articles 5 and 25 GDPR). GDPR requires all data controllers and processors to implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure a level of data security that is commensurate to the risks faced by the data subjects in the event of unauthorized access to, or disclosure, accidental deletion or destruction of, the data (art.32 GDPR).

[1] Article 4 (1) of the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 General Data Protection Regulation (short GDPR)