ASSURED - Safe Research by Safe People

Germany has a large Research Data Centre infrastructure that facilitates the analysis of complex, highly sensitive data. This infrastructure is being further developed to expand the range of research communities served. Alongside this growing infrastructure is a need to foster awareness about the importance of using sensitive, potentially disclosive data responsibly. Researchers and data professionals must acquire special skills to handle these data in an ethical and efficient way. A user survey found over 60% of respondents are interested in learning more about data access and sharing. Many institutions offer data protection training, but this is typically generalist in nature and does not cover key topics such as understanding data access, and how to produce non-disclosive research outputs. Research Data Centres may offer more specialist training for researchers accessing their data, but this is not recognised across services, so researchers accessing data from multiple infrastructures must train multiple times. To address this, we’re developing ASSURED: an adaptable E-Learning training and accreditation system that promotes best practices for safe data use and sharing, further fostering career-development within the research data sector. ASSURED is currently focused upon researchers and data professionals in Germany but has the potential to be expanded across Europe in alignment with the objectives of the European Open Science Cloud. ASSURED provides core modules that cover the key knowledge needed to work with sensitive data safely. Additional modules provide specific skills for working in a particular secure environment, with different data types such as genetic data, or in specific roles such as researcher or data access professional. The short, compact modules are supplemented with activities and assessments. By integrating the training with an Authentication and Authorisation Infrastructure, those trained using ASSURED will be able to easily demonstrate their accreditation and have it recognised at multiple Research Data Centres.