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A day with … Christof Plaschke

11/09/2022 |

By Ines Hopfer-Pfister

Have you got any questions about data protection? Because Christof Plaschke is absolutely the right person to speak to.

Source: Frankl – TU Graz

Together with Daniel Kurzmann, he is the lawyer responsible for the legal agendas of data protection at our university. Always with the goal in mind to explain things and take away the awe of data protection and its associated processes and measures.

6:50 a.m.
The alarm clock rings. Christof Plaschke dashes into the kitchen to prepare breakfast together with his wife Claudia. They eat bread with honey or jam and drink fruit tea. Then he gets on his bike and cycles to his office in the Alte Technik.

7:45 a.m.
Arriving at the office, he starts the working day with a classic office activity: checking emails. The latest decisions of the European data protection authorities and courts, which arrive via newsletter, are studied conscientiously.

8:30 a.m.
Daily meeting with Daniel Kurzmann. Both are lawyers in the data protection coordination. Plaschke is responsible for data protection issues in the area of teaching, Kurzmann is in charge of research – both are contact persons for the administration. Legal points of view and research are exchanged here. “The exchange is extremely important, especially for lawyers. In this way we always have a good overview and can take over each other’s areas if necessary.”

10:00 a.m.
Meeting with Ingo Suppan, Lena Fuchs (both OU Communications and Marketing) and Philipp Leitner from the OU Educational Technology on the topic of integrating analysis services and their legally compliant design on the website.

11:30 a.m.
Appointment with Marcel Schudi from IT Security at ZID. There are changes to the existing contract with the anti-virus software provider.

12:30
Plaschke grabs a quick snack for his lunch break.

13:00
Short phone call with the external data protection officer of TU Graz, the company x-tention Informationstechnologie GmbH. The call is about the annual report in which the external data protection officer reviews the level of data protection at our university.

15:00
Together with his colleague Nadja Vogl, Plaschke meets with Vera Poschauko from the OU Life Long Learning to coordinate a process in which data protection issues also need to be clarified.

17:00
The early evening hours are spent with a run along the River Mur cycle path or playing tennis.

19:00
After running or tennis, cooking at home with Claudia. Cooking is one of Plaschke’s great passions. He is particularly fond of Italian cuisine. His absolute favourite food: Lasagne. The enthusiastic chef also has a culinary tip at the ready: Season the béchamel sauce with a little nutmeg. After dinner, they like to meet up with acquaintances, watch TV or read. The enthusiastic mountain hiker prefers to spend his weekends in the mountains. However, the 31-year-old suspects that their leisure activities will change a little in the future, as the Plaschkes are expecting a baby soon. It’s going to be a baby boy, which the expectant father is already looking forward to immensely. Christof Plaschke will also take advantage of the one-month paternity leave: “So we can start our new phase of life together, a new adventure.”

23:00
Bedtime.

Christof Plaschke

  • has been at TU Graz since 2019
  • works at the staff unit Quality Management, Evaluation & Reporting, member of the Data Protection Coordination of TU Graz

Legal expertise at TU Graz is decentralized, with Christof Plaschke responsible for data protection. His approach is always to interpret legal texts in a practice-oriented manner; after all, users of the law should benefit from it. “It is important to me to break down the prejudices that have arisen against GDPR. After all, there are many advantages to data protection, it protects the privacy of each and every one of us!” he emphasizes.

The work portfolio of Christof Plaschke, a native of Klagenfurt, is varied. He plans and implements the data protection strategy, draws up and reviews data protection contracts and supervises the internal data protection advisory boards, among other things. Furthermore, he handles so-called data breach reports. “If, for example, a laptop is lost, it must be reported to us immediately. We check the case and decide whether a report to the Austrian data protection authority is necessary,” the data protection expert clarifies. In addition, he and his colleague Kurzmann offer training in the area of data protection among the courses of In-House Training.

Information

You can find this article and other articles to browse through in TU Graz people #82, the magazine for TU Graz employees and interested parties.