Secure and collaborative working

If you want to share your data with collaborators, how you do this will depend on:

  • the type of data you wish to share
  • where your collaborator is located
  • whether you have or need a collaboration agreement in place
  • whether your research may come under UK Export Control legislation

If you already have a data sharing agreement in place or a contract that specifies how you should share your data with collaborators, follow the rules it sets for sharing data with collaborators.

When sharing files with collaborators, it is a good idea to have a plan for file naming, organisation structure and version control. This will help you and your collaborators manage your data more efficiently.

Trusted Research Checklist

Researchers should be aware of and follow the Trusted Research Checklist throughout their work. This is especially important when sharing work or establishing a potential collaboration outside of the University. 

Sharing data within the University

The University provides collaboration toolsfor sharing files and documents with your research team and other University members. These tools are not recommended for large datasets, some types of sensitive data or clinical datasets.

Sharing personal data within the University

Under UK GDPR, if data was collected under Public task, sharing of data for further research within the University may be possible, so long as:

  • it was made clear to participants, for example in participant information sheets, informed consent forms or privacy notice
  • the data is anonymised as this is more commonly shared with collaborators

You may not be able to share the data with collaborators if:

  • it was specifically stated in the informed consent form that there would be no sharing with other researchers

There may also be ethical requirements to be considered. For more information see the Information Compliance guide to data sharing.

Sharing data outside of the University

Research contracts

If you are collaborating outside of the University, you will usually need to have a collaboration agreement in place. This will ensure that areas such as data protection, legal, ethical and intellectual property rights are considered. Contact the Research Operation Office for more information.

Sharing personal data outside of the University

Considerations when sharing personal data outside of the UK

There are additional restrictions and conditions that need to be considered when sharing human participant personal data with third party organisations such as with external collaborators. This is to make sure that any personal data are protected and handled appropriately by others.

Researchers should also be aware that under the international data transfer rules, personal data must not be transferred to a country or territory outside the UK unless covered by an appropriate safeguard after they have been transferred.

How to share data outside of the University

Sharing your data by email

If you are transferring any sensitive data, you should encrypt it first, for example in Windows using 7zip or VeraCrypt and send the key/password separately by another means and not by email.

Sharing data via Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)

Check with your IT department if you are able to transfer larger data files or sensitive data using SFTP. If your data is held in secure storage such as Secure Research Computing Platform (SRCP) or CAM:IDE then you will need to contact them to ask for sharing protocols.

See also the UIS website for more information on storing and sharing data.

Sharing special category data

Sharing special category data with collaborators is less common, but if this planned, then it should be specifically noted within the informed consent form that collaborators will have access to identifiable data about participants.

In most cases, there would also need to be in place a collaboration agreement between organisations that would cover the sharing of such data.

Data security

See also our guidance on Data security.