This research meets the ethical requirements for scientific research from Utrecht University. This means that your data is protected. During the interview we record your breathing patterns and your heart rate, as well as your audio. Additionally, if you agree to be recorded via a camera, your interview will have a video recording. All these recordings, i.e. your data is immediately made anonymous, so that your audio and video files from the interview, as well as your heart/breathing patterns are not linked to your personal information. Your recorded video and audio files will still contain identifiable information, which will be kept securely in Utrecht University servers, and will be used only during active research by the research team of this project, and will never be made available to anyone else for research or other purposes than scientific verification.

The collected data may be re-used in follow-up projects. Scientists may be able to view the anonymized data, for example because they check whether the study has been carried out properly and reliably. In such a case, your video recordings will never be shared in a raw data format, and only extracted features from your video recordings will be shared. These features are in a format where your identity (i.e. your visual features) cannot be reconstructed, and you will remain anonymous.

Sharing anonymized data is only done with the permission of the researchers. You give permission for the use of your data for this study and related studies performed by or in collaboration with the main researchers. Your responses will be kept in a cloud storage at Utrecht University to which only the main researchers will have access to.

• For the Oral History Archive

Oral History Archives collect testimonials from individuals, and as such they record private information of the participants and share these publicly via a digital interface such as a website. If you decide to contribute to this archival collection, you will be given the choice of what you give consent to share: your audio file, your video file, your heart/breathing patterns, your personal information that is collected at the start of the interview. Your interview will be prepared accordingly to be part of the archive. In case you give consent for all of these, your interview will contain your name, and your stories, which means that your identity will be visible publicly. You may also be part of the collection, without giving consent to share your interview publicly. In that case, your interview will be archived, but will not be accessible to public.

Who will see the results of this study?

The research is expected to be completed in 2024. If you want to receive the results at the end of study, please mention this to us. The results of this research will be stored in an oral archive and published in scientific journals and presented during public lectures. Your private information will not be used in publications or lectures. However, in case you give consent to participate in the oral archive, you will be given the choice of what you give consent to share: your audio file, your video file, your heart/breathing patterns, your personal information that is collected at the start of the interview. Your interview will be prepared accordingly to be part of the archive.

What are your rights?

Participation is voluntary. We are only allowed to collect your data for our study if you consent to this. If you decide not to participate, you do not have to take any further action. You do not need to sign anything. Nor are you required to explain why you do not want to participate. If you decide to participate, you can always change your mind and stop participating at any time, including during the study. You will even be able to withdraw your consent after you have participated; to do so please email a.a.akdag@uu.nl. However, if you choose to do so, we will not be required to undo the processing of your data that has taken place up until that time. The research data we have obtained from you up until the time when you withdraw your consent will be erased.

Approval of this study

This study has been approved by the Faculty Ethics Assessment Committee of the Faculty of Science-Geosciences (ERB), and the approval number is XX. If you have a complaint about the way this study is carried out, please send an email to the secretary of this Committee: etc-beta-geo@uu.nl. If you have any complaints or questions about the processing of personal data, please send an email to the Data Protection Officer of Utrecht University: privacy-beta@uu.nl. The Data Protection Officer will also be able to assist you in exercising the rights you have under the GDPR. Please also be advised that you have the right to submit a complaint with the Dutch Data Protection Authority (https://www.autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl/en).