Not long after the establishment of research cluster ROCCS in 2021, the researchers met to discuss the crisis communication surrounding the COVID-19 GGD data leak scandal in the Netherlands. In January 2021, a major data leak occurred at the Municipal Health Services (GGD) in the Netherlands. Large amounts of data collected for tracking COVID-19 contacts - such as names, contact details, patient numbers, COVID-19 test results and citizens’ service numbers - were accessed and stolen by GGD employees. Public debates about governmental digitalization, data practices, and mismanagement emerged across news media and social media, especially X (Twitter). Discussions on this resulted in the publication ’Utilising Computational Methods for Analyzing Media Framing of Organisational Crises: The "Data leak" scandal during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands’.
Prior to publication, lead authors Dr Dennis Nguyen and Dr Sergül Nguyen presented this study at the ROCCS Launch Event, a symposium with guests from different faculties and universities. Later, co-author Dr Yijing Wang presented this study at the 7th International Crisis Communication Conference (ECREA Crisis 7) in Gothenburg, Sweden.Co-founders of ROCCS, Tessa Oomen, MSc and Phuong Hoan Le, MA MSc, expressed pride and enthusiasm for the achievements of this team: "This publication was the result of many months of incredible teamwork, and is a great example of what research clusters and collaboration between scientists at ESHCC and beyond can lead to."
