Research data
Plan research data handover before the project ends
Ask the data owner before acting
Use this guide to prepare decisions with your supervisor or data owner; it does not authorise you to retain, delete, publish or transfer research material.
Who this is for: Students preparing to leave a research project.
Before you start: Follow the policies and project agreements that apply to your institution and work. Leeds is a source example here, not permission for a different project or country.
- List material types and current approved locations without copying sensitive contents into the inventory.
- Confirm ownership and who may authorise retention, disposal, access or sharing.
- Agree the receiving location and responsible person, then use the project’s approved transfer route.
- Have the authorised recipient open representative material and check the documentation before confirming handover.
- Close remaining copies and personal access only under project instructions, with unresolved questions assigned to someone.
Use a handover decision checklist
Keep this in an approved project location. Describe where material exists; do not copy research data or credentials into the checklist.
- Material and location
- Type, version, authorised location and responsible person.
- Decision authority
- Who decides and which project instructions apply?
- Approved outcome
- Retain, transfer or dispose only as authorised; record any unresolved question.
- Retention period
- Agreed duration, any required review date, applicable policy or agreement, and who authorised it; flag unresolved questions.
- Receiving check
- Responsible recipient, approved destination, documentation and access checked.
- Closure
- Confirmation received; remaining copies/access handled under instructions.
When to ask for help: Take conflicting or unclear instructions to the supervisor, data owner or responsible research/data team. Do not replace an unresolved decision with a personal cloud service or an independent disposal decision.
A student research project can leave more than a dissertation file. There may be collected observations, code, interview material, lab notes and derived results that somebody must retain, explain or remove. Discuss their destination before the final week so the project does not become dependent on a departing student's laptop or cloud account.
The sources below are University of Leeds guidance for that UK institution, not a universal retention policy. Students elsewhere can use this checklist to prepare questions for their own supervisor or data owner. Follow the laws, institutional policies and ethics, funder, participant or organisational conditions that apply to your project. Do not independently retain, delete, transfer or publish material because a general checklist suggests it.
AI-assisted research-data handover guidance. Your supervisor, data owner and institution decide what you may retain, transfer or remove. Our editorial approach
Inventory the project outputs
List the kinds of material produced, including source data, processed files, scripts, documentation and physical records. Record their current authorised locations and the people responsible for them. Avoid copying sensitive content into the inventory itself. The list should identify what exists without creating another uncontrolled version of the data.
Check for overlooked locations such as recording devices, temporary exports or a collaborator's working folder. Ask authorised team members to confirm their part of the inventory. A final report may refer to material stored elsewhere, so follow those references and identify any missing or inaccessible component before the handover deadline.
Confirm who decides retention
Ask the supervisor which policies and project agreements apply. Record who owns the data and who can authorise retention, deletion or sharing. Different parts of the project can have different requirements. Do not assume that a useful future portfolio example is permitted simply because you personally collected or analysed the material.
For each retained dataset, record the agreed retention period, any required review date, and who authorised the decision under the applicable policies and project agreements. A decision to keep data is not permission to keep it indefinitely; ask the responsible research or data team to resolve any unclear period before recording the decision.
Where instructions appear to conflict, raise the specific case with the responsible research or data team. Keep the question concrete: which version, which information and what proposed destination? Avoid replacing an unclear requirement with a guess. The purpose of early planning is to leave time for those questions to be resolved properly.
Choose the authorised destination
For material to be retained, confirm the institutional storage or repository and who will manage access. Check that it supports the file types and volume involved. Arrange the transfer through the project's approved route rather than an unrelated public file-sharing service. A destination must meet the project's conditions as well as hold the files.
Identify any continuing cost, account dependency or specialist software needed to use the archive. Raise those issues before departure. A dataset on a drive that only one former student can unlock or interpret is an incomplete handover. Record the authorised access process without placing secret credentials in an ordinary README.
Include enough context to reuse the work
Prepare an index that explains the folder structure, variables, processing steps and relationship between inputs and outputs. Include relevant version information and limitations. Keep documentation proportionate: another authorised researcher should understand what the files represent and which result they support without reconstructing months of private notes.
Ask the receiving person to open a representative set and follow one documented workflow. Resolve missing dependencies or ambiguous labels before confirming transfer. If some material cannot be reproduced, explain that limitation accurately. Do not label an archive complete merely because the copy operation finished without a visible error.
Close personal access appropriately
Once the authorised recipient confirms the handover, follow the project's instructions for remaining copies and access. Keep any permitted personal work distinct from material you must return or remove. Record completion in the form the university requires. Do not delete continuing project data before its destination and recoverability are checked.
If extra storage equipment is required, agree its suitability with the data owner before buying it. Capacity alone does not establish an approved research solution. The finished handover should have a responsible owner, understandable content and an appropriate location, with unresolved questions explicitly assigned rather than left on an old student account.
Your next steps
- Inventory source data, outputs and supporting records.
- Confirm who authorises retention and sharing.
- Verify the receiving location and responsible owner.
- Complete copy and access changes under project instructions.
Sources and further help
Each source below shows its recorded consultation date. Provider terms and services can change; check your exact booking, product or university service.
Keep planning
- Plan independent study using real task estimates
- Turn tutor feedback into a plan for the next assignment
- Divide a group project into work that fits together
- Build a useful Zotero library for your first assignment