GDPR Consent Generator
Generate GDPR-compliant informed consent text for academic research surveys. Includes all required elements for EU data protection compliance.
This is a template generator, not legal advice.
Always have your participant information sheet and consent form reviewed by your institution's ethics board, data protection officer, or legal counsel before use.
Study Information
Data Controller (Article 13)
Most universities have a DPO. If unsure, search "[your institution] DPO".
Data Collection
Legal Basis (Article 6)
Recipients & Transfers
Examples: Lensym, Qualtrics, Google Cloud, AWS, Transcription services
Will data be shared with other researchers or organizations?
Will data be transferred to countries outside the EEA?
Retention & Participant Rights
Offer machine-readable export
Profiling with significant effects
Generated Participant Information & Consent
Complete all required fields to generate text
Missing:
- Study title is required
- Researcher name is required
- Institution is required
- Contact email is required
- Data controller name is required
- ...and 4 more
Built by Lensym — focused on compliant academic research.
Understanding GDPR Consent for Research
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires researchers to provide clear, comprehensive information to participants before collecting personal data. Informed consent is one of the lawful bases for processing personal data under Article 6(1)(a).
Key GDPR Requirements for Consent
- Freely given — No imbalance of power; participation must be genuinely voluntary
- Specific — Consent must be for a specific purpose, not blanket authorization
- Informed — Participants must understand what they're consenting to
- Unambiguous — Clear affirmative action required (pre-ticked boxes don't count)
Required Information (Article 13)
When collecting personal data, you must inform participants of:
- Identity and contact details of the data controller
- Purpose of processing and legal basis
- Recipients or categories of recipients
- Retention period or criteria for determining it
- Their rights (access, rectification, erasure, portability, objection)
- Right to withdraw consent at any time
- Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority
Special Considerations for Research
- Academic exemptions — Some data subject rights may be limited for scientific research (varies by member state)
- Anonymization — Truly anonymized data falls outside GDPR scope
- Pseudonymization — Still personal data, but provides additional protection
- Special category data — Health, ethnicity, religion require explicit consent and ethics board approval
For a deeper discussion of GDPR compliance for surveys, see our guide on GDPR-compliant survey design and European survey data sovereignty.