As part of BBMRI.at – the Austrian Node of the European Biobanking Rresearch Infrastructure, BBMRI-ERIC) – UNIVIE participated in the Europe Biobank Week (EBW) 2026 through the Department of Innovation and Digitalisation in Law (ID Law) team which contributes to BBMRI.at, under Work Package 2 (WP2) ‘Legal and Regulatory Challenges and Opportunities’. The WP2 team, led by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Forgó, drafted and submitted an abstract, for a poster presentation, under the title Cybersecurity in Biobanking: the Legal Framework protecting and securing data.
The EBW 2026 took place between 19-22 May 2026 at the Prague Congress Centre, and was jointly organised between BBMRI-ERIC and the European, Middle Eastern & African Society for Biopreservation & Biobanking (ESBB). Other representatives from the six work packages and institutions that participate in BBMRI.at also took part in the activities of the EBW this year. You may find out more in the BBMRI.at news article.
The WP2 abstract and resulting poster focus on data security in biobanking, with emphasis on the legal aspects of data (highlighting personal data) security. The legal framework for data security emerges from different sources in European Union law, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). WP2 sought to illustrate these legal instruments in the context of increasing challenges to data security (emerging from malicious and non-malicious cybersecurity incidents) and opportunities for data exchange, such as those presented by the European Health Data Space (EHDS) Regulation.
The poster was presented by WP2 team member Catarina Almeida under session track 6B: Secure, fair and smart: Best practices for biobank data integration, which “explores strategies to protect donor privacy while enabling cross-border data exchange through robust governance, clear agreements and legal compliance. Experts will address GDPR, data residency and practical models for Data Transfer and Processing Agreements, highlighting how federated biobanking networks connect with healthcare data ecosystems to accelerate discovery and innovation.”
The event’s programme included discussions on ethical, legal and social issues (ELSI) and themes which are relevant to WP2’s research and work as part of BBMRI.at, including several sessions targeting the EHDS Regulation and its implications for biobanks and biobanking stakeholders, which were a valuable opportunity for exchange of knowledge on this topic.
You can read more about BBMRI.at’s last year’s participation at the EBW here!
Funding information
This work was supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Women, Science and Research funded project BBMRI.at [grant number 2023-0.752.780].
