Consent to participate

Nordforsk Project: Monitoring Hub for Mapping and Surveying Responsible Artificial Intelligence and Societal Engagement in the Nordic Region

Institution: LUT University and partner institutions (University of Gothenburg, University of Iceland, University of Bergen, and BI Norwegian Business School)

1. Purpose of the study

You are invited to participate in a research study examining how citizens and experts perceive the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in public administration in Nordic countries. The study focuses on issues such as fairness, accountability, trust, legitimacy, responsiveness, recognition, agency, and societal impacts in domains such as justice, taxation, and welfare.

2. What participation involves

Participation takes place in two stages:

Online phase via this website: You will be asked to read short materials, answer questions, respond to polls, and optionally participate in structured discussions. Use of @gora may involve the processing of limited account, technical, participation, and contribution data.
Workshop phase, optional: You may be invited to take part in an online or in-person workshop involving group discussion. Workshops may be audio-recorded only if you give separate consent.

Participation in all parts is voluntary. You may choose to take part only in the online phase.

3. Use of participant input

If you are an expert, your responses may be pseudonymised, summarised, paraphrased, or thematically synthesised and used to create discussion materials for citizen participants.

If you are a citizen, you may be shown anonymised, aggregated, paraphrased, or synthesised statements based on expert input.

These materials are used to support reflection and discussion. They do not represent correct answers or official recommendations.

4. Data and anonymity

Your participation is linked to a participant ID, not your name, where possible within the research data.

No directly identifying information is required within the research data. However, @gora and the research team may process limited identifying or account-related information, such as an email address, username, consent record, access information, or technical logs, where necessary for participation, support, moderation, security, or research administration.

Any contact details, if collected for invitations, are stored separately from your responses.

Your responses will be pseudonymised and analysed in anonymised or aggregated form.

No individual participant will be identifiable in reports or publications.

You are asked not to include sensitive personal information in your responses and discussions.

5. Voluntary participation and withdrawal

Participation is voluntary. You may stop participating at any time without giving a reason and without negative consequences.

If you wish to withdraw, you can request removal of your data by referring to your participant ID, where feasible.

After full anonymisation, it may no longer be possible to identify or remove individual data. It may also not be possible to remove data that has already been included in aggregated analyses, anonymised summaries, or published outputs.

6. Risks and safeguards

This study involves minimal risk.

You may experience mild discomfort when discussing complex or controversial societal issues or encountering different viewpoints. You may skip any question or stop participation at any time.

Discussions will be moderated where applicable. Content that is unlawful, abusive, discriminatory, privacy-infringing, or otherwise harmful may be reviewed, restricted, or removed to protect participants and maintain a respectful discussion environment.

7. Data protection

Data will be processed in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and relevant national and institutional data protection requirements.

Data minimisation and pseudonymisation are applied.
Data is stored securely with restricted access.
Data is used only for scientific research purposes.

@gora is operated by Carbon Copy. Your use of @gora is also subject to Carbon Copy’s Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy. The core @gora infrastructure is hosted in the EU/EEA.

8. Contact

For questions or withdrawal requests, please contact:

Maud Reveilhac
LUT University
Email: maud.reveilhac@lut.fi

9. Consent

By proceeding, you confirm that:

You have read and understood the information above
You are at least 18 years old
You voluntarily agree to participate in this study
You understand that use of @gora may involve limited processing of account, technical, participation, and contribution data.
You understand that you may withdraw from the study as described above.

Thank you for your participation!