Stage 4: Contracts, accounts and privacy training

 

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 Cost Quote

Data Access Unit staff prepare a Cost Quote for PopData's services which the Researcher accepts and signs.

The Population Data BC - Researcher Services Agreement

Both parties sign a Population Data BC - Researcher Services Agreement which formalizes the requested services and costs to be reimbursed to PopData.

Once the signed Population Data BC - Researcher Services Agreement has been returned, the project is placed in the work queue of the Data Services Unit.

Sample Population Data BC - Researcher Services Agreement 122kb pdf | download

Researcher account set up

Once the Research Agreement and Population Data BC - 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

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 SRE successfully completing Population Data BC's online Privacy Training 101 for Researchers course. *Non-PI research team members who do not require access to the SRE do not need to take the privacy training 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 contained in the Research Extract. 

The training covers the following:

  • Privacy principles and legislation such as the Freedom of Information and the Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA)
  • The Data Access Request (DAR) and the Research Agreement
  • Population Data BC requirements

Only after successful completion of this training course will PopData grant an individual researcher access to the Research Extract on the SRE.     

*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, regardless of whether or not the PI will be accessing data on the SRE.

 

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.

 

DARs/Projects snapshot

Total number of DARs/Projects currently with PopData:

472

The breakdown:

DARs in preparation/review

69

Projects with amendments in preparation/review

26

DARs in post-approval

31

Projects with data being prepared

32

Projects being maintained
(inc. 9 DASH, 18 DI Program and 3 ODC projects)

289

CaraSpace projects

25

Last revised March 15th, 2024

Tools and resources

We provide a range of tools and resources for researchers for use at different stages of the data access process.

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Need pan-Canadian data?

The Data Access Support Hub (DASH) is a one-stop data access service portal for researchers requiring multi-jurisdictional data in Canada.

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