Sensitive data includes:

• personal data
• health and medical data
• ecological data that may place vulnerable species at risk.

Determine if your data is sensitive by checking the Australian Research Data Commons working with sensitive data, your ethics and consent documentation, and any legal obligations associated with your project.

Manage sensitive data appropriately by securing and backing up data, using access controls and protocols, documenting security guidelines and ensuring they are followed.

Being sensitive does not necessarily prevent research data from being shared and re-used, if appropriate steps have been taken. It does, however, require additional management to maintain privacy, confidentiality and avoid misconduct. Sharing your data with non-ACU researchers may require detailed agreements, terms and conditions on how the data may be used.

Take steps to prepare sensitive data for sharing such as de-identifying, anonymising, aggregating, and developing licensing and access protocols.

The Australian Research Data Commons has resources to help you manage your sensitive data, including a Publishing and sharing sensitive data flow chart (PDF, 263KB).

Both the Australian Research Council (ARC) and National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) encourage dissemination of all research outputs.