Data Sharing Agreements – Lessons Learned and Moving Forward

Dr Stefanie Kethers¹, Dr Sheida Hadavi¹, Dr Robin Burgess¹, Dr Nichola Burton¹

¹Australian Research Data Commons, , Australia

Australia’s data is a significant national asset and data-driven innovation has been estimated to add up to $64 billion per year to the Australian economy (https://www.datacommissioner.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-08/sharing-data-safety-brochure-march-2019.pdf). It is important to make best use of data, and that includes sharing data and making it available for research and other purposes. One of the major impediments to this is the lack of data sharing agreements that provide data owners and researchers with a clear definition of the circumstances and conditions for sharing and accessing data.

Data sharing agreements include the principles and actions to address barriers to sharing data dealing with challenges such as:

• Data content standards
• Access and authorisation methods
• Licensing
• Sensitive data
• Privacy
• Provenance and attribution
• Programmatic access
• Governance

In this BoF, we will explore data sharing agreements and how we can make it easier to develop such agreements for different contexts. We will present examples from Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) programs including the Translational Research Data Challenges program, and invite community members to join the session, share their experiences, and help us develop ways to move forward.

Agenda:

1. Welcome, introductions and problem statement (10 mins)
2. Four planned Lightning talks (7 mins + 3 mins for questions each) about aspects of data sharing agreements in different contexts:

• Data sharing across jurisdictions – Bushfires
• Control, ownership and privacy – Farm data
• Sensitive data – Health
• Topic tbc

3. Discussion (30 minutes)
4. Next steps (10 mins)

Session Notes: https://tinyurl.com/eRABoFDSA

Biography:

Stefanie Kethers is the Program Coordinator and Solution Architect for the ARDC’s Translational Research Data Challenges program. She has a long-standing interest in facilitating cooperation between individuals and groups.

Sheida Hadavi is the Program Manager of the ARDC’s Translation Research Data Challenges program. She is a data scientist focusing on establishing data infrastructure to enhance research and operations.

Robin Burgess is a Research Data Specialist in Data Governance for the ARDC. His role supports institutions, industry and projects with the development of data governance frameworks and understanding many elements of the data management lifecycle through the application of the FAIR and CARE principles.

Nichola Burton specialises in sensitive data within ARDC’s expertise team, and manages the Institutional Underpinnings program which is developing a national institutional RDM framework.