Across the social sciences and humanities, video and audio recordings are increasingly used to study human behaviour and social interaction; from interviews and classroom observations to conversational and interactional research. Yet privacy concerns often prevent these valuable data from being shared or reused. SYNAPSIS addresses this challenge by providing practical tools that integrate directly into everyday research workflows.
“For research on language and interaction, audiovisual data are essential,” says Mark Dingemanse (Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University). “With SYNAPSIS, we help researchers share and reuse their data responsibly, combining open science with strong privacy protection.”
Masking tools in an open-source platform
At the heart of the project is an open-source platform that integrates masking tools through a user-friendly interface. Researchers can upload recordings, apply masking, and archive privacy-compliant data in a secure, GDPR-compliant environment. The toolkit preserves research-relevant information such as body movement, gesture and interactional dynamics, while removing identifying features. No programming expertise is required, and the platform can be deployed either in the cloud or locally.
According to data steward Henk van den Heuvel, the platform will make responsible data management much easier. “It helps minimise personal information in audio and video recordings and supports FAIR processing and sharing of this type of research data.”
Training and digital competence
In addition to the platform, SYNAPSIS offers a comprehensive training programme for researchers, data stewards and support staff. Workshops, hands-on sessions and a summer school will build the digital skills needed to incorporate privacy-aware practices into daily research routines; from data collection to archiving.
“Our project bridges technical machine learning innovation with what researchers actually need, making masking tools accessible to non-specialists,” says Babajide Owoyele (Radboud University). “This is how we build digital competence across the research ecosystem.”
Collaboration
SYNAPSIS is a collaboration between Radboud University, Tilburg University, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the University of Amsterdam and Erasmus University Rotterdam, with support from infrastructure partners SURF and DANS and international partners. The project is funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) for thematic digical competence centres (TDCC). Over the next two years, the platform will be piloted at several universities and more than 100 researchers and data stewards will be trained.