Author Archives: cekmekci

University of Edinburgh Data Safe Haven: a new facility for sensitive data

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Information Services has implemented a remote-access “Safe Haven” environment to protect data confidentiality, satisfy concerns about data loss and reassure Data Controllers about the University’s secure management and processing of their data in compliance with Data Protection Legislation.

The Data Safe Haven (DSH) provides a secure storage space and a secure analytic environment that is appropriate for all research projects working with different kinds of sensitive data. It has its own firewall and is isolated from the University network. It is located in a secure facility with controlled access. All traffic between the DSH and the user’s computer is encrypted and no internet access is available. Access to the DSH is only for authorized users via an assigned ‘Yubikey’ and secure VMware Horizon Client, and will only be available from the managed desktops that are white listed for access to the DSH.

Provision of a range of analytic and supporting applications (e.g., SPSS, STATA, SAS, MATLAB, and R) is available. These are delivered dynamically and are assigned to the project. The applications that are available to the users will depend on the type of arrangement that has been made with the DSH technical team prior to the project registration and on the licensing arrangements with the software provider.

The DSH initial security review (penetration test) was carried out by a CREST accredited organisation in August 2018. The DSH exhibited an overall good security stance and demonstrated resilience against the various types of tests performed by the consultants. This was the initial review that formed part of our ongoing drive towards ISO 27001 certification. We expect to complete this phase of the project and obtain the certificate by November 2019.

We have successfully closed the pilot phase of the DSH with five projects in October 2018, and softly launched the service at our “Dealing with Data” conference in November 2018. At present, the DSH Technical team has been migrating Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences – National CJD Research and Surveillance project data from the walled garden into the DSH.

The DSH operates on a cost recovery basis and this cost should be included in grant applications. We welcome enquiries from researchers as early as possible in their project planning. Costing is based on bespoke project requirements (see DSH Overview for users at https://www.ed.ac.uk/is/data-safe-haven.

The DSH Operations team also provides:

  • advice and input for funding and permissions applications;
  • guidance on meeting Approved Researcher requirements;
  • advice about meeting data sharing requirements and archiving of data.

We can set up a demo environment for researchers on request to explore the use of the DSH for their projects. If you need further information, please contact the RDS Team via data-support@ed.ac.uk.

Cuna Ekmekcioglu, Data Safe Haven Manager, Research Data Service

Research Data Management Forum: Third meeting – 28/03/2017

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Harkening back to a bygone era of libraries, when books were printed on paper and research data management meant not accidentally burning your notes with your candle, the third meeting of the university RDM forum was held in the impressively aged Old Library in Geography’s Old Infirmary building at the end of March.

As a regular participant, I find the RDM forum is a very useful platform for everyone who has an interest in supporting research data management. It is an opportunity for me to update myself on the support and services that the university has in place in this area, to ask the daft questions but get a sensible answer and more generally, to meet the others in the university who are working in the same area as myself and face the same issues and challenges.

This edition of the RDM forum was no different. After a quick introduction of the participants, Cuna, leading the forum, took us through the following agenda:

  • Cuna Ekmekcioglu – RDM update
  • Dominic Tate – DataVault update
  • Pauline Ward – DataShare new features
  • Cuna Ekmekcioglu – development of Data Safe Haven

The session began with the RDM update which went into detail about the RDM Sharepoint site and some of the tools and documents that have been uploaded to the site. There are some useful threads looking to collect information about the different types of data that we have, as well as some guidance on recording datasets in PURE, RDM journey flowchart and sample Data Management Plans amongst other things. The Sharepoint site can be accessed by request, and can be found here: https://uoe.sharepoint.com/sites/rdmforum (access is only for UoE staff and students).

We had updates on the existing services such as DataShare and details about the development of both DataVault and the future Data Safe Haven, a system which will allow the storage and analysis of very sensitive data. There were some discussions around the new systems and practical issues such as cost and training/guidance for the new services.

It was a very worthwhile event and I shall be looking forward to the next forum.

Michelle O’Hara
Research Data & Information Officer
School of Social and Political Science

 

Research Data Management (RDM) Forum

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RDM Forum is a newly created platform to bring together both researchers and research & IT support staff from across the University whose role involves helping academics in managing their research data. The aim of the Forum is to share good practice, exchange experiences as well as discuss current and future challenges related to data curation, preservation and publishing. We hope that the Forum will allow its participants to learn from one another and gain a new perspective on some common issues.

The Forum takes the form of meetings as well as e-mail updates (done through the RDM Forum mailing list) and an online platform (SharePoint website) for sharing useful resources, engaging with each other and keeping up-to-date with recent developments in RDM.

The first meeting took place on 7th September 2016. There were 24 in attendance and participants had the opportunity to introduce themselves, ask questions, and provide their expectations and suggestions for future RDM Forum meetings, which have been summarised below:

  • Overcoming challenges:
    • Supporting academic engagement
    • Going beyond funder requirements
    • Engagement beyond training
    • Avoiding last-minute arrangements
    • Addressing concerns about data sharing and reuse
  • Finding solutions that will work
    • Early training
    • Establishing workflows for standard processes
    • Developing an Information Governance structure for data
    • Sharing real-life scenarios
  • Forum structure
    • Forming several user groups focused on specific aspects of RDM
    • Organising meetings around specific themes
    • Updates from Research Data Service team
    • Forum as a platform for training
    • Forum to meet every two months at different locations

The Forum is only open to the University of Edinburgh staff and postgraduate research students. If you are interested in joining the Forum mailing list you can do so at: https://mlist.is.ed.ac.uk/lists/info/rdm-forum
RDM Forum SharePoint website (access by request) is available at:
https://uoe.sharepoint.com/sites/rdmforum

Cuna Ekmekcioglu
Senior Research Data Officer

Dealing with Data 2015 – Programme

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Date:                     Monday 31 August 2015, 9:30 – 16:30
Location:             Informatics Forum and Appleton Tower, University of Edinburgh

Bookings for the Dealing with Data conference are now closed.  The event is full!

Draft Programme

09:30 Refreshments
10:00 Welcome
10:05 Opening keynote: The Alchemy of Volunteered Data: turning base metal into gold, Prof Jonathan Silvertown, Institute of Evolutionary Biology.

10:45 Session 1 – Informatics Forum
10:45 – 11:05: University data, open data and the Smart Data Hack, Ewan Klein, Informatics.
11:05 – 11:25: Edinburgh Data Science and Managing National Data Services at Edinburgh. Mark Parsons, EPCC.
11:25 – 11:45: Channel shift – using data analysis to improve service delivery at the City of Edinburgh Council. Michael Wasilewski, Informatics.

11:45 Break

12:00 – 13:00 Session 2 – Informatics Forum
12:00 – 12:20: What are the challenges of collecting and analysing data in primary care? Lessons learned from a feasibility study in six general practices in Lothian, Scotland. Natalia Calanzani, Debbie Cavers, Gaby Vojt, David Weller, Christine Campbell, Population Health Sciences and Informatics.
12:20 – 12:40: Facilitating the reuse of brain imaging and clinical data from completed studies across the life course: the Brain Images of Normal Subjects (BRAINS) Imagebank. Samuel Danso, Dominic E. Job, David Alexander Dickie, David Rodriguez, Andrew Robson, Cyril Pernet, Susan D. Shenkin, Joanna M. Wardlaw, Brain Sciences.
12:40 – 13:00: Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics and R: Adding value to a public data resource with the ‘tidy data’ paradigm. Jon Minton, AQMeN.

12:00 – 13:00 Session 3 – Appleton Tower
12:00 – 12:20: Data ecosystems and wicked problems; supporting “students as researchers” in complex data environments. Arno Verhoeven, ECA; James Stewart, SPS; Ewan Klein, Informatics.
12:20 – 12:40: Networked learning analytics: Studying the association between learner generated discourse and learning. Srećko Joksimović, Dragan Gašević, Education
12:40 – 13:00: Automated Content Analysis of Discussion Transcripts. Vitomir Kovanovic, Dragan Gašević, Informatics and Education.

13:00 Lunch

13:45 – 14:45 Session 4 – Informatics Forum
13:45 – 14:05: Exploring Digital Divides in China, Ashley Lloyd, Business School; Mario A. Antonioletti, Terence M. Sloan, EPCC.
14:05 – 14:25: Gone Fishing: The Creation of the Comparative Agendas Project Master Codebook, Shaun Bevan, SSPS.
14:25 – 14:45: Electronic lab notebooks and research data management at Edinburgh Experience to date and challenges and opportunities going forward. Rory Macneil, RSpace.

13:45 – 14:45 – Session 5 – Appleton Tower
13:45 – 14:05: Tweeting Jonson’s “Foot Voyage”: deeply mapped data, Anna Groundwater, HCA.
14:05 – 14:25: University of Edinburgh Reid Concerts Database Project, Fiona Donaldson, Music.
14:25 – 14:45: Encountering feminism on Twitter, Prof Viviene Cree, and Dr Steve Kirkwood, Social and Political Science, with Dr Daniel Winterstein, Sodash.

14:45 Break

15:00 – 16:00 Session 6 – Informatics Forum
15:00 – 15:20: The VELaSSCo framework: a software platform for end user analytics and visualization of large simulation datasets, G. Filippone, A. Janda, K.J. Hanley, S. Papanicolopulos and J.Y. Ooi, IIE, Engineering.
15:20 – 15:40: From raw data to new fundamental particles: The data management lifecycle at the Large Hadron Collider, Andrew Washbrook, Physics.
15:40 – 16:00: Tipping the balance – introducing data management on a centre-wide level, Tomasz Zieliński, Eilidh Troup, Andrew Millar, Biology.

16:00 Closing talk: Kevin Ashley, Director, Digital Curation Centre
16:30 End