UQ Data Sharing Agreements

The Data Sharing Agreement is a form that details requests for UQ data, and is used between Information Consumers (who request the data) and Information Stewards (who review the request for data). This includes data from systems and platforms used to support UQ’s administration, teaching and learning and research information. It covers: 

• Purpose the data is being obtained / what it is being used for. 

• When the data sharing will occur. 

• Who the Information Steward will be. 

• What safeguards will be implemented to protect the data. 

• Privacy and ethics considerations. 

Completing a Data Sharing Agreement is now a requirement for all corporate data sharing at the University of Queensland (UQ), both internal and external. 

Following submission, the Data Strategy and Governance Team will facilitate providing you with the data you require.   

When is a Data Sharing Agreement required?

A Data Sharing Agreement is required whenever you require access to corporate data you don’t usually have access to in your day-to-day work. It may also be required if you wish to use data you have access to in a novel way that is not already approved under an existing Data Sharing Agreement, or is not part of your regular duties.

Note: If you require access to data or a particular system to complete tasks that are intrinsic to your role, this should be covered under the onboarding process for your appointment.

The following flowchart may help you determine if you need to complete a Data Sharing Agreement.

A Data Sharing Agreement will also be required when sharing data external to UQ. 

If you are unsure if you require a Data Sharing Agreement, please contact the Data Strategy and Governance Team to discuss.

Accessing the Data Sharing Agreement  

There are two types of Data Sharing Agreement forms available: 

1. Analytics use cases: Best for analytics use cases where data might be used for research, improving systems and services, and ad-hoc reporting requests, for example.

2. Integration use cases: Best for use cases where existing data needs to be integrated into another system.

You can find the Data Sharing Agreement forms for both on the Request Access to Data webpage. 

Note: there is a separate process for access to research data.

There are numerous reasons why Data Sharing Agreements are required. These include: 

• Ensuring compliance with legislation and obligations around data use and data ethics.  

• Protecting UQ’s data, through ensuring only authorised persons have access to the data required, for a specified time period and use. 

• Providing oversight of what data is shared throughout the University and for what purposes, supporting data security and privacy and allowing for better data governance. 

• They place accountability for the management of the datasets through identifying the appropriate Information Steward for the data, as well as provide Information Stewards better oversight of who has access to data within the domain they are responsible for, and how this data is being used. 

• Ensuring ethical use of data (ethical use of data is assessed when Data Sharing Agreements are submitted). 

Benefits of Data Sharing Agreements

Watch the below interviews with Information Stewards who regularly use Data Sharing Agreements, to learn more about Data Sharing agreements and their benefits.

Interview with Dr Greg Winslett

Interview with Dr David Stockdale

For more information on Data Sharing Agreements contact the Data Strategy and Governance Team.