Archiving research data in HMI lockers

The lockers are located in the HMI hallway. They are used for storing and long-term archiving of research data and consent forms for verification and replication purposes. Most projects have a designated locker that can only be opened by the main researcher(s). Archived data is stored securely for a predetermined period of time before it is destroyed.

Projects affiliated with HMI can request a dedicated locker for storing and archiving research data and consent forms. There is limited capacity so we cannot give individual people their own personal locker. You can store data of multiple studies by multiple people in the same overall project locker. Lockers are programmed to individual employee cards, so you must be physically present in order to have your locker assigned.

To request a new locker please send an email to Daniel Davison (CC to Charlotte Bijron) with the following details:

• Preferred locker size: (LARGE or SMALL)
• Project name: (e.g.: XPRIZE, WEAFING, DE-ENIGMA, etc)
• Project number/OFI: (if applicable)
• Brief description which data will be stored and for which purpose:
• Primary contact person: (must be an HMI staff member)
• List of people who should gain access to the locker: (to program the lock we will ask each person to scan their employee card)
• Start date: (when do you need the locker)
• End date: (we will discuss with the main contact person about destroying the data after this date)

This is ideal for student projects or external collaborations: you can use the drop-off postbox to add your collected data to an existing project locker without needing additional authorization.

Seal your data in a properly labelled envelope, available at the lockers or as digital template. It should at least contain the following details:

• Your contact details: name, student e-mail address, phone number
• Your project details: course or project title and brief description
• Your UT supervisor’s contact details: name, e-mail address
• Name of main project where your work falls under (if applicable / known)
• Main project contact person at UT (if applicable)
• Description of the data:
  • Type of data (physical data and/or encrypted digital data, see below)
  • Brief description / summary
  • Period when the data was collected
  • Date of destruction (if applicable)
  • Ethics request number (if applicable)
  • GDPR registration number (if applicable)

You can place the labelled envelope with the data in the general postbox locker. Every few days we will empty the postbox and redistribute the data to your supervisor, or place it in the respective project lockers and inform the main contact person for that project. They will then check the integrity of the data.

Depending on the type of data we have additional instructions below. We will continue to expand instructions and guidelines as they arise in practice. There may be other exceptions for your particular situation, in case of doubt you can discuss with Daniel Davison. Please always take into account general GDPR guidelines.

For example, this type of data could be signed consent forms, printed questionnaires, or other physical artefacts from your study. Keep in mind the following:

• Clearly label and bundle data packages so they can be neatly archived, searched, and retrieved
• If possible you should digitize the data so it can be stored more securely on an encrypted storage device. You can then destroy the paper originals, there is a large blue paper bin near the secretaries office.

If the data is otherwise anonymous, besides the consent name and signature, you should consider creating a key file that links the participant name to an anonymous participant ID. Without this key file it is impossible to trace back a particular data point to a personally identifiable individual. This key file should be archived separate from the actual data and consent forms. An example of such a key file could look like this:

For example, this type of data could be video/audio files, logbooks, digital questionnaire results, scanned consent forms, etc.

Make sure you clearly document what is stored where (e.g. folder hierarchy, naming conventions, study details, etc) and how it can be accessed (e.g. which OS, file system, encryption tools, etc). You should print these instructions or include an unencrypted README.TXT file. Authorized people must be able to retrieve, read and interpret the data in the archive, even after you yourself might leave the project. The university has a general template for such metadata.

If you store digital data in our lockers, you must ensure it is securely encrypted on an external HDD or USB drive. The UT has some general tips regarding encryption. Most operating systems have the ability to encrypt an entire USB storage device with a password (e.g. Windows: Bitlocker, MacOS: FileVault, Linux: LUKS). Make sure that encryption passwords and recovery keys are shared with your supervisor or a main project contact person separately; do not put the encryption passwords/keys in the same locker with your data!

Digital datasets can also be archived online through the Areda portal offered by LISA.

As your locker fills up with data from multiple studies it can be difficult to maintain an overview. This becomes especially problematic when the project ends or after you leave the UT, when somebody else needs to take care of archiving the data. Please keep a good administration of the data that is maintained in your locker. You can use the labelled envelopes available at the lockers (or digital template) for this purpose. These list the essential details about your project/study/data that allows us to trace it back if necessary.