Research Data Management

• Follow basic Information Security guidelines and training. Find out more via the University of Plymouth's Information Security pages.
   
• Store data in line with its Information Classification.
  
  
• As far as possible/permissable, try to store data on institutional cloud solutions. Physical media can degrade over time and are more susceptible to loss, theft etc. There may also be errors in the data when writing to physical media, such as CDs/ DVD. See the IT Service Catalogue here for more information on solutions.
   
• Consider the security needs of the information when choosing where to store it. Are you working on a project where your funder/stakeholder requires the data to be stored in a certain place or way? 
   
• If you need others from outside the institution to have secure access to the files, a Research Site might be a better solution to a personal One Drive, to store the data and share/manage access from there, than to email files or use free cloud storage. See the TIS team sites help for more details on these.
   
• If data is to be transferred, how will it be transferred and what security will be in place? Consider pseudonymising/anonymising the data.
   
• Your data might be subject to additional encryption requirements if it is sensitive, or if you are working with it off-campus. You may also require access to the data from different countries. For information on encryption, see the University of Plymouth's 'Protect your Data' page.

If you lost your research data, through hard disk crash, human error, theft or otherwise, how long would it take you to reclaim the data? Would it even be possible? Consideration in storage and back-up are two crucial elements to preventing data loss as far as possible, and recover data efficiently in case of data loss.

Try the 3-2-1 principle- keep 3 copies of your data, on at least 2 different media, with as least 1 copy stored off-site. This might not be suitable for all data,so consider ethics and other issues before doing this.

Consider what data needs backing up and how it will be backed up, the frequency of back-ups, where they will be stored and for how long.

Although the above principles mostly hold for all forms of data, physical data (papers, objects, notebooks, samples and so forth) may have additional considerations to their storage, security and back-up. Consider how to store this data securely and whether digital back-ups may be required. 

No matter the format, consideration should be given as to whether any personal or identifiable information is being collected. For example, in any diaries, sketchbooks etc. that are being collected. These data would also need to be managed in line with GDPR with consideration to collection, storage, processing, preservation/sharing and destruction.

If additional/ specific storage is required for physical objects, or if digitisation is needed at the end of the project to preserve data/works, make sure costs for this are calculated. University suppliers should be used for services- see the University Procurement Sharepoint Site.

There may be other intangible data outputs, such as performances, websites, practices, or events that form part of the data supporting the research question. Consider and detail in your DMP how this can be best captured and maintained, considering that data of long-term value or pertaining to publications should be retained for 10 years as per the Research Data Policy.

You will lose access to institutional services such as One Drive or other storage when you leave the institution. You will need to consider:

• How will you continue to keep your data for 10 years post-project?
• Can your department, school or faculty store data on your behalf and do you need to give them permission to do so?
• Will you take data with you and does a copy need to be retained at the institution?
• Do data assets (websites as an example) need to be maintained over the period and who will be responsible for this?

This all needs to be done according to any ethical, legal, contractual and other obligations already identified.

If you are not sure what to do, it might be best to contact IT self service or your faculty ethics board for advice (see UoP Ethics Governance).