Find out how to access secure data for your research projects.
Introduction
Secure data refers to confidential or sensitive data that can only be accessed under special license conditions. Examples include NHS data, financial and taxation data, immigration and census data, and commercial data.
Before data suppliers will grant access to this type of data, they often require a formal data sharing agreement or license to be signed, either by the data user, or more commonly by an institutional signatory on behalf of the School.
Requesting secure data can be a complicated process and delivery timings will depend on what kind of data you’re requesting and the data supplier.
A typical secure data request will involve the following steps:
Fill in our data sharing and agreements form with the details of the dataset you want to request, your contact details and department and any preliminary information you have gathered about access requirements
Some agreements are standard agreements and don't need to be looked over by our legal team. For these agreements we'll ask Cyber Security to review the license as well as the data management plan and advise on whether the chosen secure access route is viable.
We will triage the request and ensure it gets sent to the right teams within the School for technical and legal review. For the legal review, if the agreement is connected to a research grant it will be reviewed by the R&I division, for all other agreements the Secretary’s Division will review.
For non-English language agreements an accredited translation will need to be provided by the data requestor to the legal teams before they can review. Any expense incurred will need to be covered by the data requestor or their department
We will get back to you with any review comments from the legal and Cyber Security teams, once these have been received. At this point you may need to liaise with the supplier to answer any questions we have about the agreement, or to request changes to terms and conditions
For agreements that require an institutional signature, ie, a signature from a senior member of staff within the School, signatures will not be supplied without the express approval of LSE Legal Advisors and our Cyber Security Team.
Once all the necessary approvals are in place and the data management plan has been received and approved, we will send the agreement to be signed by the Research Division or Secretary’s Division.
LSE Library and DTS can offer a number of options for accessing secure datasets both on and off campus. Please note that it is ultimately the decision of the data supplier and DTS to decide on an appropriate access route, as not all options will be appropriate for all datasets.
Some suppliers will only give access to secure data from within the LSE campus. We can offer access via the SafePod Network and / or a secure suite to facilitate access to secure data from within the Library building.
Some suppliers will allow remote access to datasets, but only from a secure server. There may also be an additional requirement for researchers to access data only from institutional laptops eg, from a laptop supplied by the DTS team at LSE.
Access secure data on campus
The secure suites are two fully enclosed, locked, controlled access rooms located on the fourth floor of LSE Library. Both suites have been accredited by the ONS for access to secure data.
Use of the rooms is granted to approved researchers by appointment only via the Library.
PCs in the room run in a Windows environment with a suite of statistical tools for analysis, including Nvivo, Stata, SPSS, Python and R. Contact the data library for a full list of current software.
The PCs in both rooms can also be locked down to prevent access to the internet or for the connection of USB storage devices. This room does not have windows so to prevent external viewing of data.
What data resources are suitable for the rooms?
Some of the data resources we manage through the rooms are:
Orbis Historical
Indian National Sample Survey data
Eurostat Microdata
ONS Microdata
UKDS Microdata
Luxembourg LIS Cross-National Data Centre
LSE hosts an ESRC funded SafePod. A SafePod is a prefabricated setting that allows researchers to access data from key suppliers.
Access secure data remotely
LSE can provide access to a Trusted Research Environment (TRE) which utilises the cloud-hosted AWS infrastructure and resources and adheres to the principles of secure remote access to datasets and materials
Whilst the TRE environment itself is managed by DTS, access to the environment is controlled by the Data Library.
All applications to use the TRE will need to be cleared via Cyber Security, who will require a copy of your data management plan as well as any data sharing agreements/licences you have been asked to sign. They 'will assess whether the TRE is appropriate for usage on a case-by-case basis.
The TRE is not appropriate for all datasets, some data can only be accessed through the RLab terminal server or on campus, or from physical locations like the library secure suites.
The Research Computing team in DTS maintain a dedicated remote desktop that can be used to access ONS datasets. Please note that ONS will need to approve remote access in the first instance.
To use the ONS remote desktop please contact the Datalibrary.
he RLAB maintains a terminal server for use by LSE staff and PhD students affiliated with the CASE, CEP, CVER and STICERD research centres.
For more information please see the Rlab webpage, or contact the Rlab.
Other useful information
We recognise that many undergraduate and master's students need access to secure data for research projects and dissertations. We try and support such applications wherever we can. However, there are several barriers to accessing secure data that students and supervisors need to be aware of:
Some data suppliers have long turnaround times of ten weeks or more. This can be difficult to accommodate within the timeline of a UG or PGT dissertation.
Some data suppliers refuse outright to supply data to anybody below the PhD level of study.
Some data suppliers will only supply to researchers where they have a publication history that demonstrates experience in data analysis.
Some data suppliers will only supply data on a ‘public interest’ basis. In most cases this means a planned publication in an academic journal.
Some corporate data suppliers attempt to impose unreasonable terms and conditions that make it risky for UG/PGT students to enter into a data sharing agreement with them.
Some suppliers charge administration fees for supplying data that are not feasible for an UG/PGT project. There can also be hidden costs eg, the costs of getting foreign language data sharing agreements translated into English.
These potential pitfalls can make planning a dissertation or research project that relies on secure data very risky. Because of this we suggest that students and supervisors get in touch with us as early as possible in the process so we can advise you about the feasibility of securing data for the study.
Please note the School can only provide review for data sharing agreements that require an institutional signature.
If the research topic involves accessing, using or collecting security sensitive material eg, related to terrorism or violent extremism of any kind then you may need to arrange for special access methods eg, on LSE campus only or via a secure server.
We would also recommend a consultation with the Cyber Security team who can advise on the safest way to collect and analyse this type of data.
