Data Retention

The Research Conduct Policy states that  

“Original data and software on which published material is based, should be kept for at least six years, or as specified in any relevant funding contract but, preferably, indefinitely. The Human Ethics Committee requires retention for five years for Master’s or lower level student research data and retention for ten years for PhD level student and University staff research data. Indefinite storage of data involving human participants requires disclosure to, and consent of, those participants, as does any future use of such data by researchers other than those who gathered it.”  

Research data has requirements for data retention over the course of the project and afterwards. With support from the University, researchers are responsible for retaining research data in accordance with their Research Data Management Plan and the University’s retention periods. These retention periods may be extended through ethics approval processes or contractual agreements with funders or data providers. 

As your research project comes to an end, it is crucial to consider how long your research data needs to be retained. As well as UC’s Research Conduct Policy, there are often legal & ethical requirements for this from journal publishers, funding bodies, ethics committee as well as statutory requirements. In general, sensitive data should only be kept for as long as is required, and then should be securely destroyed. Refer to your Data Management Plan and work with your supervisor, Data Librarian and eResearch Consultant on the preservation, disposal, and destruction of data.

For support in this area, please contact the eResearch team by filling out the eResearch Consultancy ServiceNow Form.