Once a DAR has been approved the Researcher signs a number of legally binding contracts and agreements.
- The Research Agreement
The Researcher must sign a Research Agreement with the Data Steward(s). The purpose of the Research Agreement is to provide a legally enforceable framework for information (data) sharing between the Data Steward(s) and the Researcher. The approved DAR form will be attached as an appendix to the signed Research Agreement. The Researcher at this point also signs a Confidentiality Pledge.
- The Population Data BC/HDPBC Cost Quote
Data Access Unit staff prepare a Cost Quote for PopData's services which the Researcher accepts and signs.
- Population Data BC/HDPBC - Researcher Services Agreement
Both parties sign a Population Data BC/HDPBC - Researcher Services Agreement which formalizes the requested services and costs to be reimbursed to PopData/HDPBC.
Once the signed Population Data BC/HDPBC - Researcher Services Agreement has been returned, the project is placed in the work queue of the Data Services Unit (for PopData projects) or passed to the HDPBC team for data provisioning.
Sample Population Data BC/HDPBC - Researcher Services Agreement 122kb pdf | download
- Secure environment accounts set up
PopData projects
Once the Research Agreement and Population Data BC/HDPBC - Researcher Services Agreement have been signed a Researcher Account is set up. This provides the Principal Investigator (PI) and all those research team members requiring access to the data on the Secure Research Environment (SRE) with access to mandatory online privacy training. A YubiKey® is issued for those accessing the SRE and space for the approved project is created on the SRE.
Data Access Unit staff forward login information to the PI and all identified Researchers requiring access to the SRE. This includes:
- Username and temporary password for the my.popdata portal
- Instructions for undertaking the mandatory privacy training
Once the PI and all researchers needing access to the data on the SRE have successfully completed the privacy training course, a YubiKey® will be sent/made ready for pick up and Data Access Unit staff will authorize access to the team’s project specific folder.
Once the approved data have been provisioned, these data will be placed on the SRE in the project-specific folder and the research team notified that their data is available for analysis.
The research team will then receive an invoice for PopData’s services as per the Cost Quote.
HDPBC projects
Once the Research Agreement and Population Data BC/HDPBC - Researcher Services Agreement have been signed a Researcher Account is set up. This provides the Principal Investigator (PI) and all those research team members requiring access to the data on the Secure Environment (SE) with access to mandatory online privacy training.
Once the PI and all Researchers needing access to the data on the SE have successfully completed the privacy training course – a project is created within the HDPBC SE.
For access - All the approved users will first receive an email to verify their identities. Once the identity verification step is completed – Researchers will then receive an email that includes:
- User name and temporary password to access HDPBC Desktop
- Instructions to complete multi-factor authentication
Once the access setup is complete – Researchers will then receive an onboarding email that further outlines information to access the provisioned data via the project and a link to the video walk-through of the desktop.
The research team will then receive an invoice for PopData/HDPBC services as per the Cost Quote.
- Privacy training
Access to data is conditional upon the Principal Investigator (PI) and all other members of the research team requiring access to data on the PopData Secure Research Environment (SRE) or the HDPBC Secure Environment (SE) successfully completing Population Data BC's online Privacy 101 Training for Researchers course.
The purpose of this training course is to familiarize Researchers and research teams with their ongoing privacy and security obligations regarding the use and protection of data.
*Please note: the PI for the project must successfully complete the privacy training course before any research team members are allowed access to the SRE or SE, regardless of whether or not the PI will be accessing data on the SRE or SE.
To take the Privacy 101 Training for Researchers course go to: my.popdata.bc.ca/privacy. You will need to login using your PopData account. If you don't already have an account, you may register for one here.
