Deposit and sharing of sufficiently anonymised data
If your data originates from research with human participants, and/or the collection or use of personal data, you may be able to deposit and share it with Research Data York on the condition that the data is sufficiently anonymised and you can meet the specific requirements listed on this page.
Research Data York requirements
For sufficiently anonymised personal data
Research Data York requires that:
- depositing researchers have completed York’s mandatory data protection and information security training.
- participant information and consent documents cover data archiving and sharing of anonymised data.
- data has been sufficiently anonymised and anonymisation has been assessed to meet the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) definition of personal data and follows the ICO anonymisation code of practice guidance. (The ICO is currently consulting on new guidance, a draft can be found on the ICO website)
- a University of York data sharing agreement is in place and meets the ICO Data sharing: a code of practice guidance.
These requirements must be fulfilled in advance of depositing sufficiently anonymised personal data with Research Data York.
Depositing researchers must provide Research Data York with:
- a summary of the conditions under which the data may be accessed.
- a named contact to make a decision on requests for data access.
- a blank copy of the University of York data sharing agreement for the dataset, and a named University of York signatory.
- blank copies of participant information and consent documents.
- ethics committee name and document approval number/reference (where it exists).
These requirements cannot be met by postgraduate researchers (PGRs). As such, Research Data York is not an option for postgraduate researchers with (once) sensitive data.
Access to the data is: Restricted
Research Data York will:
- forward requests for access to the named contact (or Head of Department) for a decision.
- record access decisions and disclosures (but not the process for how the decision to share is made).
- if a request for access is approved, and after the signing of a University of York data sharing agreement, safely provide a copy of the dataset to the requestor.
Related links
Discussion of your plans before deposit
You must contact the Open Research team early in the research process, and at least 60 working days before any deadline, to discuss your plans. We are taking a cautious approach to the deposit and sharing of sufficiently anonymised data and will assess such requests on a case-by-case basis.
Information for postgraduate researchers
These requirements cannot be met by postgraduate researchers (PGRs). As such, Research Data York is not an option for postgraduate researchers with anonymised (once personal) data.
Requirements for fully and irreversibly anonymised personal data
If you plan to deposit data that is fully and irreversibly anonymised personal data (i.e. data that is not subject to the UK GDPR/Data Protection Act) Research Data York has requirements that you will need to meet:
Research Data York requires that:
- depositing researchers have completed York’s mandatory data protection and information security training.
- participant information and consent documents cover data archiving and sharing of anonymised data.
- data has been sufficiently anonymised and anonymisation has been assessed to meet the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) definition of personal data and follows the ICO anonymisation code of practice guidance. (The ICO is currently consulting on new guidance, a draft can be found on the ICO website)
These requirements must be fulfilled in advance of depositing fully and irreversibly anonymised personal data with Research Data York.
Depositing researchers must provide Research Data York with:
- a record confirming and explaining the adequacy of de-identification techniques, including a declaration that no personal data is involved (i.e. the data does not identify any individual nor could it lead to the identification of any individual).
- any record of a motivated intruder test or notification that this is covered by a Data Protection Impact Assessment.
- blank copies of participant information and consent documents
- ethics committee name and document approval number/reference (where it exists).
Access to the data is: Open
Research Data York will:
- apply a CC BY licence.
- make the data openly available for direct download from the York Research Database.
Before deposit: You must discuss your plans with the Open Research team.