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This regular training course introduces PhD students to research support available during the course of their studies. It is relevant for all PhD students, whatever the stage reached in their project and is applicable to all disciplines.

The half-day session focuses on Research Integrity, Research Data Management, Data Protection, Research Ethics, Open Access and Research IT. The course highlights good practices in these areas, explains the expectations of researchers and points them to relevant UCL support services.

The next session will take place on Wednesday 30/01/2019 (2-5pm).

Booking information is available on the Doctoral Skills Development Programme website.

The Freedom of Information Act was created in 2000 to increase the transparency of the public sector and their activities. Under the Act, research data can be requested although copyright and IP rights to the data remain with the original researcher. When a request for information is made, there are normally 20 working days to respond. In the UK, most universities are defined as public authorities and are thus legally obliged to respond to FOI requests. There are, however, some key exemptions to the Act in the UK including:

1. Personal data about living individuals cannot be requested, unless it is about you.
2. Information that is accessible by other means.
3. Information intended for future publication.
4. Information that is subject to a confidentiality agreement.
5. Information whose release would prejudice legitimate commercial interests.
6. In Scotland, information that is part of a finite research programme for which there is a publication schedule and clear intent to publish.
7. If the public interest in withholding the information is greater than the public interest disclosing.

Source: Corti et al 2014

There have been a number of high profile cases in which FOI requests have been made against research data being collected by the universities. Data cannot be withheld indefinitely so you should always work under the presumption that if any information is not released the first time round, it can always be requested again. Researchers are therefore advised to detail the ways in which they plan to release their data in a data management plan in order to avoid any unanticipated FOI requests. It is therefore paramount that you plan for FOI and the implications of the Act when creating a data management plan. Writing a plan will also enable you to think more carefully through issues surrounding consent, sharing and ethics. Yet researchers should always remember that the FOI Act can often act as a useful means of data collection in its own right.

At UCL, further guidance on FOI can be found on the Research Integrity pages. If in doubt, researchers are also advised to get in contact with UCL’s specialist Legal Services team.

Further Information

• JISC guide to Freedom of Information and Research Data: http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/users/research/documents/foiresearchdata.pdf

Photo by A.Wilkinson / CC BY

This regular training course introduces PhD students to research support available during the course of their studies. It is relevant for all PhD students, whatever the stage reached in their project and is applicable to all disciplines.

The half-day session focuses on Research Integrity, Research Data Management, Data Protection, Research Ethics, Open Access and Research IT. The course highlights good practices in these areas, explains the expectations of researchers and points them to relevant UCL support services.

The last session of this academic year will take place on Tuesday 24/04 (10am-1pm).

Booking information is available on the Doctoral Skills Development Programme website.

In 2017 we conducted a series of short interviews as part of the LEARN project. We asked several UCL researchers about data management and data sharing in their disciplines.

Dr Jenny Bunn is a lecturer in UCL Department of Information Studies; she is the Program Director for the MA/Diplomate/Certificate in Archive and Records Management. She previously worked as an archivist at the V&A Museum, The Royal Bank of Scotland Archives, Glasgow University Archives and The National Archives before moving to teaching and research at UCL.

Alongside Jenny’s insights as a researcher, her professional experience as an archivist also informs her approach to Research Data Management (RDM). She emphasised the importance for researchers to reflect on three questions: what data could potentially be useful for other researchers; where to share this data most effectively; and whether some data should not be kept. A central message of the interview was the need for researchers not to view RDM as ‘keeping everything’ but instead as viewing RDM as a key component of research integrity.

Watch Jenny’s 7-minute interview (opens a new window in Youtube).

This regular training course introduces PhD students to research support available during the course of their studies. It is relevant for all PhD students, whatever the stage reached in their project and is applicable to all disciplines.

Each half-day session focuses on Research Integrity, Research Data Management, Data Protection, Research Ethics, Open Access and Research IT. It highlights good practices in these areas, as well as explain the expectations of researchers.

Two sessions will take place this Term, on Wednesdays 22/11 and 06/12. More dates will be available in the next Terms.

Booking information is available on the Doctoral Skills Development Programme website.

This regular training course introduces PhD students to research support available during the course of their studies.

It is relevant for all PhD students, whatever the stage reached in their project and is applicable to all disciplines.

Each half-day session focuses on Research Integrity, Research Data Management, Data Protection, Research Ethics, Open Access and Research IT. It highlights good practices in these areas, as well as explain the expectations of researchers.

The last session of the academic year will be held on Tuesday 2nd of May (10am-1pm). More dates will be available in the next academic year.

Booking information is available on the Doctoral Skills Development Programme website.

This new regular training course is running to introduce PhD students to research support available during the course of their studies.

It is relevant for all PhD students, whatever the stage reached in their project and is applicable to all disciplines.

The half-day session will focus on Research Integrity, Research Data Management, Data Protection, Research Ethics, Open Access and Research IT. It will highlight good practices in these areas, as well as explain the expectations of researchers.

The next dates are

• Wednesday 1st March, 2-5pm
• Tuesday 28th March, 10am-1pm

More dates will be available in the next term. Booking information is available on the Doctoral Skills Development Programme website.

A new regular training course is running to introduce PhD students to research support available during the course of their studies.

It is relevant for all PhD students, whatever the stage reached in their project and is applicable to all disciplines.

The half-day session will focus on Research Integrity, Research Data Management, Data Protection, Research Ethics, Open Access and Research IT. It will highlight good practices in these areas, as well as explain the expectations of researchers.

The next date is Wednesday 7^th of December, 2-5pm. More dates will be available in the next terms. Booking information is available on the Doctoral Skills Development Programme website.

UCL Research Contracts Office (RCO) can review and help you negotiate research agreements from a variety of funders and collaborators such as industry partners, Research Councils, foreign and domestic government departments and charities. Check the RCO webpages for more information.

For advice on research collaboration in general, including cross-boundary projects, see the UCL Research Integrity website.

The UCL Research Data Policy sets out UCL’s expectations around the management and sharing of data created by UCL researchers. All UCL researchers, supervisors and Principal Investigators should read the Policy and share it with colleagues and students where relevant.

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