Handling and Storage of Personal Data

The University has a responsibility to protect the rights of human subjects involved in research projects. Human subjects must be protected from harm, and the University must ensure that data and other information about research and research subjects is handled with due consideration to legislation and institutional guidelines, and the requirements of the various funding bodies.  The University must also ensure that personal data is not used without the consent of the individuals concerned.

All research staff and students must comply with the University Policy on Data Protection (Appendix 6) which complies fully with the Data Protection Act (1998) which covers personal data collected for the purposes of research. Data collected for the purposes of research must be dealt with in accordance with the DPA unless certain exemptions in the Act apply (section 33). All researchers should ensure they are familiar with the requirements of the Act.

Guidance on keeping research records is given in the next section.