UC Davis

In research academic computing, may be natural to emphasize data integrity over confidentiality. However, there are numerous categories of academic research that do have data confidentiality requirements, from research that is simply embargoed until a future publication date to research that contains industry-owned proprietary information or is subject to government regulation. The contents of this report are based on numerous community conversations with leaders in academic research IT, data librarians, computer science researchers, computer security professionals, and others with roles involving using or enabling the use of sensitive data in academic research. The report discusses challenges to conducting research on data that is in some way sensitive, and solutions that are being used or could be used to address those challenges and enable the research to take place. Those solutions include technical solutions as well as administrative and procedural issues. The report concludes with recommendations to campuses on issues to consider in order to enable research on sensitive data while ensuring security and privacy as well as usability and usefulness of the environment hosting that data.